Legends of The Waker: Remnants of Old
by Leuke
Summary: A knight forced from home and betrayed. Two sages charged with desperate quests. These three heroes throughout time struggle against an ancient and familiar evil. Takes place between OoT and WW in the 'adult timeline'
1. Part 1

(The Legend of Zelda)

Legends Of the Waker: Remnants Of Old

Chapter I: Link's Awakening

-12 years before The Wind Waker

The full moon shone in the dark, starry sky as I ran for the cliff before me. The shadow-cloaked figure of my father watched behind me. I leapt into the air, wind nearly pulling my green stocking cap from my blond hair. On Roc's Island, boys were given a green hat, and a magic cape on their coming-of-age birthdays. The cap symbolized some ancient hero I didn't know much about. The cape gave the ability to fly, and was made by Roc, a strange weaver. He was said to be from a long line of weavers, making magic items that gave lightness. I spread the brand new blue cloak wide and flew over the fresh, saltless ocean. I had just received mine and was trying it out. Everyone over thirteen had one, but there were only a few dozen living here.

I soared in all directions, laughing aloud at the sheer pleasure at being able to zoom about. The wind pushed by me as I flew, up and down, in twisting circles, but suddenly, I felt it, a slight pain like being winded. The cape needed a chance to rest. I was about to turn and head back for the cliff-top where our house rested, when I saw a shadow against the ever-moving waves. I gasped when I made it out.

A pirate ship, here! Few but pirates ever sailed, fearing what would happen when the comfort of the tiny islands was left behind. My curiosity won out over my fear of punishment from my father, and I soared downwards towards it, as my cape drew nearer to giving out. I landed on the crow's nest quietly. The lookout saw me so quickly that he started and collapsed to the deck. I could feel my cloak recharging as I climbed down the mast. Suddenly I heard a strange swoosh and something grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the air.

I soon realized it was my father and that he had come to pull me back towards the island. I did not struggle, knowing it would only make the anger that was coming even worse. When we returned home, he flung me to the grass near our house and descended, pulling out a small staff and raising it to the moon. He brought it down with a swift _crack_ on my leg, and I could already feel it bruising.

"You could get us all killed, you fool! We have survived on this island by keeping to ourselves and you nearly ruined everything!" I said nothing in response, taking the beating that came without words. When he was finished, he turned without speaking and stormed back towards the house. We lived alone, my mom and two sisters having died to a plague years ago. I wanted to fly, but was in to much pain, and laid back to watch the clouds dance by the moon, and with the peaceful wind blowing my hat and hair I soon fell asleep.

I awoke to see my best friend, Meena, a member of a family of Zora that lived on the island, mid-morning sky framing her face. "Wake up, Link! Your father wants you back home right away! You know what he's like angry!"

"Yeah. I learned all over again last night," I muttered, standing up.

"Wow! Is that your cape? I wish I had one!" I suddenly remembered the strange cape on my back.

"Yes, it's great. Father's at home, right?"

"What? Oh, yeah! You'd better get going!" She gave me a shove and I took off for home, using my cape to 'pick up speed'.

I ran in the door and received the greatest shock of my life. There, sitting with my father at the table was a man that could only be the legendary Ganondorf.

"Is this young Link? Looks a strong lad. He'll do nicely," Ganondorf said in a deep, yet oily voice.

"…what?"

"Yes. A bit brash, foolish, but I'm sure you'll work that out of him," My father said.

"What's going on here?"

"Of course. Of course. He'll receive a great deal of work, very character building."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I yelled, chest heaving.

"See what I mean?" Father said, "Brash. Foolish. Watch your mouth, boy. You're to be Mr. Boroki's apprentice.

"No! That's Ganondorf! I won't go with him! I-I won't!"

"Ganondorf? Don't be silly. He was destroyed centuries ago by the Hero."

"Keese! Then what's he doing in our living room?!"

"You'd better watch that language. Mr. Boroki is a respectable merchant and you _will _work for him. No more argument."

It was obvious I was getting nowhere. I bolted for the door as fast as my legs could carry me. As I ran, I risked a look back and saw that the two had taken to the air and were flying after me. In the excitement, I'd forgotten my cape! I leapt into the air as well and soared over the very same cliff I had the night before, my father and that hateful man now very close behind. This whole thing wouldn't have happened if I were really thirteen. The disease had delayed me in getting my cape, and I'd had to wait a few years. At sixteen, I was eligible for apprenticeship

My father's voice called out, "Running won't help, Link! Come back now and we won't punish you."

I ignored them and kept going. There was no going back ever again. Far off in the distance I could see the pirate ship had dropped anchor. Somehow, I knew safety lay there and began to soar for it, hoping dearly I could make it.

Suddenly I heard a _thwok thwok _behind me and knew my father had launched his boomerang. He had a magic boomerang that could be made to go any direction he desired. I turned and nearly lost an eye as it flew for my face. My hand swept up and I just barely managed to catch it. I held on tight as it spun in circles and loops.

"Come on…just a little longer…" I whispered, waiting. Then…

"Yes!" I had only to hold onto it for long enough and it would obey _me_. Ganondorf was not far behind me now. He had outdistanced my father and drawn twin swords from behind his cloak.

"Heh. You've got courage, kid. No mistake there, but you're coming with me now." My hand, my right hand, began to throb. On the back of it I had an odd yellow birthmark of three triangles close together, they formed a triangle of sorts themselves, with two on the bottom and one on top. The lower right one was filled in, the other two hollow. It was then that I noticed he had one as well, but the upper was filled instead. A change came over me then, though I hardly realized it at the time. It had been as if something inside me had stirred.

I had no time to ponder this. I threw the boomerang and guided it into his left sword hand, causing him to drop it. I soared underneath and caught it, blocking the blade he still had and swinging up, catching the boomerang as it returned to me and letting it fly into his head, after stunning him, I caught the boomerang once more and fled, I tucked my limbs close and the pirate ship began to loom closer and closer, and the pain of keeping aloft grew stronger and stronger.

Finally, when I could take no more, I landed on the deck and the last thing I saw before collapsing into darkness was a brown-haired female pirate.

Chapter II: The Last Kokiri

-Narrated by Fado (300 years earlier)

I could feel the fear all around me. I knew something wasn't right. An evil wind was blowing. The other Kokiri seemed to be almost paralyzed by it. We'd only recently secured our home here, around a coven surrounding the Great Deku Tree. I stood on a high cliff outside, staring at the island that had once been our home. It had become overgrown with monsters, however, and we'd moved to this island with the Great Deku Tree. Mido, boss of the Kokiri, had been slain covering our retreat. On our leave, he'd named me boss. I didn't feel the boss of anyone, including myself. But I'd always been optimistic to the extreme. What would happen would happen.

The bellowing of the Great Deku Tree reached my ears suddenly from below.

"FADO!"

I ran for the inside and leapt clear into the massive opening. Grinning broadly, I soared for the ground at an insane speed, without fear as usual. At the last moment I stretched my Deku Leaf wide and stopped short of the ground. Right before me was the Deku Tree, about ten feet tall, far from as 'great' as the last, I'd been told, but growing. The other Kokiri were there too. My sister, Foria was there, plus the few older remaining from the Kokiri Village, where the Hero of Time had spent his childhood. Then those born since the coming of the Great Sea. They'd clearly been waiting on me.

"Ah, Fado, making an entrance as always," The Deku Tree said. "I have a matter of some importance to discuss with you. I thought the other Kokiri should hear it as well."

"What is it, Great Deku Tree?"

"Something is not right. I know you feel it. You're sleep has been restless, has it not? And you, who Mido felt worthy of Boss, have always been perceptive."

"Yes. I do not know what to do."

"You must do something! You must save us!" One of the Kokiri called out. Then the others began to murmur fearfully. It grew worse and worse, till my yelling and even the shouting of the Great Deku Tree could not stop the fear they felt.

Then it happened.

One of the Kokiri, Dyluus, the one who'd called out, fell to his knees. And changed. One minute I looked at a lifelong friend, the next a strange creature of wood. His face was a leaf with features imposed. He was shorter now, with odd, stubby limbs.

One after another changed this way till I alone remained the same.

"What has happened to them?!"

"They have become Koroks. The way Kokiri were before The War. They took on Hylian form to avoid being mistaken for monsters and stayed as they were. The fear seems to have returned them to their former states. This is most peculiar, but does not change what I must say to you. I fear Ganon is returning once more. You are a sage. There is work for you to do in a temple to the North. But first you must go to the old village and reclaim the Kokiri Sword. You are the last Kokiri, and a sage. The only one

capable of doing what is needed. Do you accept the charges I lay before you?"

I could only nod, dumbfounded at all I'd learned. Me, a sage? All the sages had been wiped out fighting Ganon in the absence of the Hero. I wondered vaguely if he would kill me, too. It would be quite a challenge, all I'd need to do, but the adventure would be more than worth any hardship. I grinned.

"I'll be coming back armed."

"I'm glad to see you're still hopelessly arrogant. You'll need that. After you get the sword, come back to me. I've more to tell you."

Creeped out and feeling horribly distanced from my old family, I left for the upper reaches without another word.

Chapter III: "Is it over?"

-Narrated by Laruto (200 years later)

Horror was everywhere.

The Zora of Greatfish Isle had been hit and hit hard by a terrible plague that caused both physical and mental deteriorations. Odd, debilitating boils and hallucinations had taken nearly all the Zora which were followed promptly by death. Only a few remained unhurt by the terrible disease.

"I'm _dying_!" a young man named Fryt screamed at me, inches from my face. I was somehow immune to the disease, but with my people nearly gone, I saw little reason to be thankful for that.

I pushed away and ran to the docks seeking Jabun. I'd hoped he'd be able to help, but he'd been powerless. Our once great civilization, filling the honeycombed mountain beneath the waves with thousands, had been brought low to a few dozen.

I found Jabun there, as expected, but nothing could have prepared me for what else I saw.

About forty strange fish were surrounding him, blue scaled with faces like a Hylian's. I knew what it meant, who they were. The last surviving Zora.

"I had to, Laruto," Jabun said sadly in the voice that, for some reason, only I could understand. "They would have died like all the others. I transformed them with some of the magic I possess.

"Can you change them back?" I asked, edges of hysteria in my voice. His silence was answer enough.

"Is it over? Is it really over, Jabun? Our civilization really gone in a week? What…what caused it?"

"I think someone contaminated the food supply, poisoning it before it was eaten, somehow, as nothing else has been effected."

"Then why do I live?" I asked bitterly.

"Because you are something more than most. You are a sage. You must stop the one who brought all this hate. Destroy the cause of so much pain. Defeat Ganon."

"But why? He seems to have already won! What's the point?"

"Do you think he will stop at this? He could do this to others. He must not be allowed. We will kill him." He said with uncharacteristic malice.

"What can I do?"

"Go to your parent's storeroom and return with the harp. I will instruct you further on your return.

The storeroom. My parents, once King and Queen Zora, were now dead. I was only vaguely aware that that made me queen. I didn't feel like a queen. Queen of what? A few dying remnants? A bunch of fish? If I were Queen Zora, I was only queen of myself, and I didn't feel like bowing to the crown.

Pulling my mind back to the task at hand, I thought of the storeroom. It was all the way at the base of the mountain, only accessible from the outside.

Without a look at the few wrecked survivors and the disconcerting fish-men, I dove into the water.

Chapter IV: The Pirate Zelda

(Link)

A hazy room spun into focus as I awoke to a strange sensation in a strange bed. A ship rocking in ocean waters. I still had my fisherman's clothes on, and across the room I could see my cloak and hat, as well as the boomerang and sword, all scattered on a simply patterned chair. On the other side of the room was a crib. A blond haired baby stared at me, had been for some time, and as I watched, she winked hugely. Everything that had happened still fresh in my mind, I began to get up when a woman walked in bearing a tray of food.

"Oh, you're awake. I brought you some food. I'm Zelda, captain of this ship. That's Tetra, my daughter." She was a tall, striking woman with long, brown hair, clothed in rough pirate garb. "We know who you are, Link." She said suddenly.

"W-what?" I asked, wondering what she meant, how she knew my name.

"Do you not know yourself?" She sounded surprised. "You are the Hero of Time. You bear the Triforce of Courage."

"Is that what this is?" I said, staring at the three triangles on my hand.

"Yes. I trust you know the legends." Zelda waited and went on after I nodded. "The three Triforce pieces were left scattered. Your ancestor held one, as did mine, as did Ganon. Evil arose in Hyrule, and the Hero left into the Sacred Realm to claim Ganon's Triforce of Power, so that the Triforce could be whole and the evil abolished. He left his own Triforce behind, shattering it into eight and scattering the shards to the winds. He then amassed a small band and set out to the other realm. A thief restored most of the Triforce as the rains began to come, and it was reclaimed by the Hero of Time when he returned home. And what I was getting at by telling you all this is that-"

Before she could finish, the ship rocked violently, sending the tray of food across the room. I heard a yell from above: "We're being boarded Miss Zelda!"

"You stay here, Link. We'll take care of this." Intent on doing nothing of the kind, I gathered my now scattered belongs, put on the hat and cloak, jammed the boomerang into my belt and holding my sword tightly rushed out of the door.

I tumbled out the door to see a huge ship, bigger by twenty yards at least than the modest pirate ship I'd landed on. Pirates were rushing around the deck to confront strange monsters carrying weapons, some even wearing armor. "Moblin." I knew somehow that the brown creatures carrying spears were called that. "Iron Knuckle." "Bokoblin." Doglike armored beings carrying swords that curved in and out, and scrawny creatures carrying mix-matched staffs, swords and shields.

With no effort I leapt at them, swinging my sword in perfect motion so that even a crowd could barely touch me. The Triforce on my hand glowed golden as I swung into the air, flipping end over end and ripped though the binds on an Iron Knuckle's armor. I disarmed a Bokoblin and took his arc shaped sword and fought with both, forcing the warriors back onto their own boat. I noticed the pirates had all stopped fighting as I jumped ten feet and dealt two slicing swings to a Moblin. They were all watching, mouths agape.

Finally, the last warrior fell. The Moblin I'd just downed hurtled his spear at me and I swung my blades in a blur and several bits of evenly cut wood fell to the ground. I didn't even bother to kill him. I sheathed my sword without fear, confused about why a force like this would attack us. Surveying the wounded and dying troops all around me and the scattered weaponry, I looked over to the pirate ship, wondering what to do when they all came from their daze and began cheering.

The door to the cabin of the intruding ship burst open so hard it came off its hinges. The one called Mr. Boroki I knew to be Ganondorf burst out. He drew his single sword and lurched forward without any noise save a snarl. I cried out and drew my own sword.


	2. Part 2

Legends Of the Waker: Remnants Of Old

Chapter V: Encounters

(Fado)

I crashed though the door into the large, cleared out room beyond. I'd been struggling through our former home, now called the Forbidden Forest for two days, all in search of this room. The place where Mido had died. The room brought back many painful memories but I shrugged them off and pulled out my Deku Leaf. The room was largely empty except for a log stump house lying lonely in the middle. But I couldn't tell whose. The whole place was horribly turned around, and it was only by a strange, inner sense that I knew I was in the right place.

Being a sage was paying off now, at least.

I took a deep breath and, grinning widely, leapt for the edge of the 'cliff' I'd been standing on. I let myself fall for a moment then pulled out my Leaf and went up for a second before landing lightly in the grass. I immediately began searching for the Kokiri blade but suddenly a grating voice shot across the vast room, just as I spotted the sword, too the right of the house.

"So the pathetic forest people return at last. I thought I'd seen the last of you delightful _fairy folk_." The voice spit out the last words and I was reminded painfully of the day our fairies had left us. I shook away the bad memories and looked to the source of the voice.

A small, flowerlike bulb sat to the left of the house, waving dozens of green tentacles in the air. I couldn't imagine how I'd missed it. "I am Kalle Demos, and I am going to eat you," the voice said in a harsh, high-pitched voice. Before I could react, vines wrapped around my leg and hoisted me high into the air. Chuckling, Demos began to lower me towards the bulb at its center. I took a quick stock of what weapons I had as the creature, gloating and sure, lowered me slowly.

A Deku stick, two Deku nuts, and my Leaf.

I wiggled a hand into my pocket and hurled one of the nuts. A blinding flash burst out and my vision swirled as I was dropped to the ground. I recovered as fast as I could and pulled out the stick, and swiped it back then forward. The blinded Kalle Demos wrapped its tentacles around the stick and then I heaved it away with all my strength. I then threw the last Deku nut and the blinded, confused plant lost me completely. I whipped out the Deku Leaf and leapt into the air, flapping it as I went so that I was propelled towards the Sword.

Smiling, I swept it up, quickly digging through old layers of debris, realizing I'd been able to see it through a half-foot of dirt. It was a foot long and had a bronze hilt, and I could see my teeth as I grinned into the steel blade. Waving it before me, I instantly got a feel for it, and turned to face Kalle Demos.

A good test subject for the Last Kokiri's first battle, I decided.

I ran forward yelling wordlessly and, holding my sword tilted toward Demos and up, I ran in a circle around it, cutting off all its tentacles.

Screaming in rage, the creature waved stumpy tentacles and empty threats in the air as I turned back to where I'd found the sword, and soon spotted the belt and scabbard that went with it. I threw both around my shoulder Hero style and prepared to live when I something felt wrong.

It was the hate I felt first. A deep hatred so profound I felt I might drown in the waves of it. So profound I felt it within _me_, I wanted to hurt, to cause pain, to lash out, to kill. I turned slowly to see a man of green skin dressed in ragged clothing. A voice whispered in my head.

_Ganondorf_.

So this was the man so many feared. I was instantly disgusted with him, but I felt no fear. Fear was something that happened to other people. I grinned at him, and still he didn't speak, and then.

"I see you've claimed the old blade. It's a pity you won't have the strength to wield it as it's former masters. You're nothing but a grinning dolt, and I'm going to rid the world of one more sage. The Seven couldn't stop me on my return and you'll not stop me now, boy."

"The only thing scary about you is that vomit colored skin. Go take your pathetic hatred somewhere else. This Kokiri's not buying." I drew the Kokiri Sword and it swung from it's scabbard as though fresh from the forge, rather than over three hundred years old.

Ganondorf drew long, twin swords from behind his cloak, which spoke of far more riches than his clothing. He lunged forward with a wordless cry of rage and I moved in smiling hugely, swinging between the two blades, back and forth, always trying to take a step ahead of him, but he always turned my sword away, as it clanked back and forth between his two much larger swords.

I refused to let his longer reach give him an advantage, and used my new powers to leap onto the wall of the room, kick off his chest, and knock a sword from his hand with one blow.

I landed and both of us stared breathlessly at each other, and the fight was about to presume again when suddenly a voice came so loud, so piercing that we both stepped backward, hands to our ears.

"**HALT!" **

I felt the warm trickle of blood on my palm as the voice resumed again, this time a little quieter.

"AS LONG AS THE GREAT DEKU TREE HOLDS POWER, THERE WILL BE NO FIGHTING HERE! TOO LONG HAS THE FOREST STOOD BY." As he spoke, Everything began to grow bleary, and wondered giddily for a moment if the loud voice was doing it, then more critically if my eyes were going bad. The blurriness grew worse and worse, till everything looked smeared beyond recognition.

Everything but Ganondorf and I.

The colors soon began to regain shape, and all the while, Ganondorf stood with his hands over his ears. When everything had stopped moving, we were back before the Great Deku Tree.

"GANON. NOT YET DO YOU HOLD SWAY OVER MY FOREST OR MY CHILDREN. I BANISH YOU."

And with that, he was gone. Nothing left to signify he'd ever been there, as the sword, which had come with us, was also gone.

"Where'd he go?" I asked, wondering where the Tree could have sent him.

"I neither know nor care. Far away, and that's all that matters. Now. I had something to say to you. You must go north to Gale Isle, where the Wind Temple rests. The Master Sword must be protected from Ganon. He will weaken it if he can, making it little more than a normal blade. At the temple you play a song that will protect it. You will make a cello from one of my leaves and then set off at once. Do you understand?

Once again, I could only nod.

Chapter VI: Deeper Still

(Laruto)

The cold press of the ocean water calmed me and made a little of the terror of everything that had happened seem to wash away. I had a long way to go and used the time to think, but I was continually dragged back to the nightmare images of my family and friends, my whole people, being wiped out. And the one who'd done it. Ganondorf. I'd heard many stories about him, and couldn't understand why he'd chosen to poison us. He'd always been interested in ruling as much as destroying, and now thousands could not be ruled.

I was brought instantly from my musing by a suckered tentacle around my left leg. I pulled a sharp fishing knife from my boot, much like the ones most Zora over six winters carried, but far more important as it had belonged to my father. He'd given it to me before he died, telling me the job of saving our people was in my hands. I'd failed, obviously.

The octorok soon yielded and floated away under the frustrated jabs of my knife. But my anger took control and I flew after it, using a bit of magic to fry it with electricity, something very few Zoras were capable of, but I was descended from Mikau, a Zora hero from another world.

I did several spins in the water and swerved for the deep in the way only a Zora can, enjoying the water despite everything, to happy to return after all that had happened the past week.

When I reached the doorway into the storeroom, I was only slightly winded,but glad of the change. To move the door, I had to knock a strange, diamond shaped switch, which turned colors when activated. To keep out intruders, it was hidden behind a door that only electricity could open.

I swam past the portcullis and surfaced in a small pool at the end of a low, very dark hallway. I lit the nearby torches but refrained from grabbing one, wanting nothing to do with the flame for fear of drying up.

The hall had only two doors. One was powered by electricity and led to the upper levels of the mountain, but was rusted shut with disuse. The other was of a light metal and covered with strange designs, all centering on three golden triangles my parents had assured me were very important.

This door I went to and opened, it squeaked with rust of decades and made a soft tearing as thick spider webs tore apart. The room beyond was equally neglected, and now free of money, as we'd spent all ours on finding a cure. A stockpile of weapons lay in one corner, swords, shields, hookshots, and boomerangs. Separated from these were two pedestals my parents had pointed out when first they'd brought me here. On one sat a truly massive sword, at least as big as me. On the other, a beautiful golden harp, with red fasteners on both sides and silver strings running between. A lion was emblazoned into the gold, and seemed ready to lunge out and tear me apart.

I reached for the harp and gently, carefully, pulled it from it's pillar.

"The queen Zora preoccupied with music now, when her people need her the most?" A sneering, oily voice called out as I tightened my grip. I turned, holding the harp in two hands.

A strange, green skinned man in opulent robes stood before me. I'd been told some history about the old land of Hyrule. About the lay of the land, the War, and the kings, and it was one of those kings before me. Somehow, I knew it.

_Ganondorf_.A king of evil, only.

The very name sent an unexplained shiver up my back and I felt real fear for the first time. Before me was one who's hatred was so great, so powerful, an entire kingdom had been trapped in his iron fist.

"You."

"Yes, me," Ganondorf said, grinning strangely, as though it were some joke and he was suppressing greater laughter.

I didn't know what to do. I was a sage, but what did that mean? Did I have powers I could use against him? I wished Jabun had told me more. Then I realized there was nothing holding me to this room anymore. I dashed outside, and Ganondorf drew two strange swords and followed.

I ran to the electrically operated door and began focusing all my magic into it. A far greater burst than I'd ever thought possible flew out from around me and sent the door flying upward to bang into its holdings. I flew up the stairs beyond as fast as my legs carry me, pausing only to make sure the door came back down to block the evil man's way. Somehow, I didn't think it would stop him.

I found myself in the lowest corridors of Greatfish Isle. This far down, everything was storerooms. My footsteps echoed as I walked through the enormouse halls, clutching the harp tightly. I'd come down here many times before with my friends to get some raw Treiilst Fish, an odd fish that caused a stimulus in Zora, used for making Zora drinks of many kinds. The raw kind, needless to say, was far more powerful. We'd found more natural ways to get in trouble, however, and stopped coming, but I still knew the way to the stairs, and was soon among the lower living quarters. There was an immediate change between the two levels. Through the doorway into the former homes of deceased Zora, I could see massive window bubbles, giving unparalleled views of the ocean. I was getting ready to climb to the next floor when I heard a voice call out to me.

"Help! Whoever's out there, please help me!"

Chapter VII: The Power of the Waker

(Link)

The echoing clash of identical swords rang across the deck. For a time we fought, back and forth, but I was strangely aware of the fact that if this battle continued, everyone on board these two ships would die. I had to get away, but how? And in a way that left everyone safe?

My hand ached in a strange, painless way, and I saw a glint of gold as the Triforce of Courage rose from my hand. It floated there, no more than a quarter-inch above my hand. The battle stopped. Ganondorf's eyes glowed with greed as our faces were lit by the golden triangle. Then there was a sudden flash and a boom and everything was torn away.

A dirty taste filled my mouth, and I came awake, sputtering sand. The sun lashed violently into my eyes as I opened them, and I had no clue where I was. I did a quick check of things, and seeing they were all intact, and the Triforce symbol still rode on my hand, I began to look around.

I soon realized I'd come to on an island. A high, wooden tower stood on the edge of the beach, and a small village nestled by the beach capped the slightly mountainous feel of the island. Three houses. People lived here, but not many. It reminded me very strongly of Roc's Island and I felt a sudden pang of homesickness, and wondered what Meena was up to.

"Hello, Link! How are you!" The deep, slightly gruff voice came from behind and startled me so badly I fell into the sand. I came up with my sword in hand, and found myself facing a lion. No, not a lion, I saw, but a boat. I gave the boat a wary look and backed up a step. The boat was small and red, with yellow trim, and a tall white sail.

"What's the matter? Never talked to a talking boat before? Get used to it. I'm your guide now."

"Guide…you…what for?" I asked, still confused and on guard. "What good can a boat be as a guide?

"All the Heroes of Time past, and I get the idiot. What do you think? I'm a boat. I sail about. What better guide? Anyways, you need to stop Ganon. He's been slowed down by that little trick of yours, but not defeated. And you nee-

"You know of what happened? Is Zelda okay?"

"To my knowledge, yes. Now don't interrupt. As I was saying, you need the Master Sword to stop Ganon, and to get it you must prove yourself. But that'll be taken care of later. You're task now is to claim the Waker. Look over to those houses. Do you see anyone?"

I looked, and indeed saw something. A family celebrating. An old man and woman, a young couple smiling happily, and in the arms of the young woman, a baby boy with a shock of blond hair that reminded me strongly of my own.

"Yes. I see them. Why'd you point them out?"

"Because the old man is the last Waker of Winds. The men in that particular family passed down an instrument, a conductor's baton, known as the Wind Waker. But that man, the baby's grandfather, decided to hide it for safekeeping high in the upper reaches of the island. The Waker was made by the King of Hyrule many centuries ago to guide the sages in their battle against Ganon. A young Shiekah was entrusted with it after they fell. He brought his family here when the rains came. It has now come into the hands of an evil being that will use it to kill everyone on this island. You must go and liberate the wand before it can be used for evil."

I nodded and left. It wasn't necessary to hear anymore. People needed my help, and I would give it. There was no questioning. Although I felt strange at being called the Hero of Time. But it fit, in an odd way.

"Wait, Link! I have one more thing to tell you! _In the darkness, bring the light."_

"…Okay." I turned, too puzzled to think of anything to say.

As I left the long, sandy beach behind and walked towards the houses, the people there began to stare at me, looking completely on guard. I saw the young man leave and figured he'd gone to get a weapon and wait in case I was threatening them.

"Greetings, stranger. What brings a young warrior to our humble island?" The old man called out, as the two women took the young child inside.

"Greetings, elder. I am Link. I have come seeking the Waker."

"Rygo." He extended his hand, I took it and we shook. "That's quite an item to be searching for. May I ask why?" He peered deep into my eyes, as if his suspicions could be answered one way or another within them.

"It is in the hands of a terrible evil. The place where you have hidden it was not safe."

"How do you know this?" His tone was openly accusing.

"I am the Hero of Time." At this I held up my right hand was rewarded with a startled gasp. "I have my sources."

"The legendary Hero! I will guide you at dawn tomorrow. It grows late and the upper reaches of Outset can be very dangerous at night.

I was soon introduced to his family. His wife, as well as his son, Knilino and daughter-in-law, Lyrt. And the baby, who hadn't been named. Although when I gave Lyrt my name she looked at me thoughtfully and said very softly, "Link…that's a beautiful name…"

Not a word was spoken, at my request, about my true identity as Hero. I slept fitfully in a small outdoor hammock, waking early and doing some exercises with my sword and boomerang. Soon after I got up, Rygo came bearing two things.

"You should leave now, before the others awake. I brought you some of my wife's soup, in a bottle, and a tunic."

He held up the tunic, it was thick and green, with a belt. "On our island our sons wear the clothing of the Hero on their coming of age. This was my son's and meant for the boy…but you, the Hero, need it. My wife can make another.

I didn't see how I could refuse, and took it, leaving behind my fisherman's clothes, and putting the bottle in one of the strangely cavernous pockets of the tunic, I set off with a farewell for the top of the small mountain.

I stood before a small hole in the ground. I'd searched everywhere around the little forest, and seen no other place it could be. Something about the hole was wrong, it seemed to echo of a strange deadly evil. It didn't matter, though. I was going to go in no matter if cuccos popped out and starting eating me. Without a backward glance, I flew into the air and descended into the pit.

I was soon in a room made of shadow. All I could see in all directions was darkness, but for some reason, I still retained my sight. I could see myself clearly, and the horrible being that stood two-dozen feet away.

Shadow against shadow, it had a pillar like body that went straight into the ground. It got broader nearer the top, and two huge arms stretched from its shoulders. The head was larger still, with four massive, tusk-like teeth. Two curving horns stretched from the head, and the red of it's blazing eyes and cavernous mouth were the only color it possessed.

"Look out, Hero!"

I turned, heartbeat leaping up a notch, and saw someone in his massive fist.

_The great fairy Nemos_

Stealinx- Ganon's Shadow 

"He has the Waker! Be careful!" Nemos called out. I smiled grimly. This was where I belonged. In battle. I swept out my sword and leapt spinning in the air.

Stealinx let out a dry chuckle. And just as I reached them, pointed a small wand in my face. For a moment I hung there. Then a blast of wind struck me and I landed twenty feet away, sliding on the 'ground'. I hopped to my feet again and this time ran, pushing against the torrent of wind. I reached him and the wind stopped so suddenly I fell forward. I slashed downward with my sword to no effect and the creature began to laugh hoarsely again. "A sword of my owner's make is of no use here. Nor would any sword be a match for me. The tactics of your father's won't avail you, boy!"

Suddenly the creature became a swirling vortex and I was sinking deep into the black void, losing all hope.

_I will fail. I am no match for this one_.

In the darkness, bring the light.

Somehow the words brought strength and I flew away from within Stealinx.

I knew there was only one thing to do.

_In the light, there is no doubt_.

I leapt high into the air, ignoring all pain and focusing fully.

_In doubtlessness, there is conviction_

The shadow pointed the wand at me again, but it meant nothing now.

_In conviction, there is fortitude_

I landed before him and he let go of Nemos to concentrate on me.

_In fortitude, there is strength_

Exactly what I'd needed. Now the fairy would be safe from what I was about to do.

_In strength, there is victory_!

The Triforce flew above my palm as before and I was surrounded by a sphere of brilliant, blinding luminosity. A solid beam of iridescent light shot into the shadow of Ganon and it vanished. I fell weary to the floor of what was now again the fairy's fountain and the Wind Waker clattered to the ground beside me. I reached over and picked it up. Floating over the pool of water before me, Nemos hung. Then she spoke.

"You are weary. I will heal you."


	3. Part 3

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old

Chapter VIII: Cold Departure

(Fado)

The pathetic little boat floated low on the waves, heavy with the full load of supplies. I could sympathize with the little dinghy, as I was now carrying a long, green cello, which, strangely enough, I'd made from a leaf plucked off the Great Deku Tree's branch. I was also bogged down with one of the old Deku Shields, my new sword, of course, my Leaf and a bag of Deku Nuts. The song, "The Wind god's Aria" taught to me to play on my cello, was floating somberly through my head, echoing through me. Then came the last of the burdens, waddling up.

The Great Deku Tree had _insisted_ I take with me two Koroks, Mako and Holly. Mako had two Deku sticks strapped too his back, both towering above his head. Holly wore two bandoliers and a belt made of dried leaves, but as Potionmaster of the Kokiri- _Koroks, _I still had to correct myself-she had the pouches full of dozens of bottles. "The belt is my best potions, the bandoliers are for mixing on the spot," she'd told me.

The Koroks were lined up to see us off. We'd already said our goodbyes to the Great Deku Tree, of course, as great as he was; he'd not learned to move about just yet. The two passengers perched atop the supplies, and I pushed off with a paddle, struggling with sail. The whole thing was complicated and would have been far more painful if I'd not been buoyed up by my usual cheerfulness.

Sooner than I would've though possible, our lifelong home was gone and we were out alone on the Great Sea. Despite my vehemence in arguing with the Great Deku Tree about leaving them behind, I found myself glad to have the little Koroks with me. I would have been very lonely without them.

"So what's it like, being a bush?" I asked as night settled in and we prepared for a night on the waves.

"We're not bushes, we're _trees_," Holly replied indignantly. "Someday one of us will take over for the Great Deku Tree."

"Yeah," Mako called out. "And that's MISTER Tree to you, forest boy. Or I'll roar in a frightening way and squish you flat as a- um…something flat." He began to dance about on the rail of the boat, yelling wordlessly and leaping up and down in a pathetic, toddling copy of the Great Deku Tree.

"Oh, no. _Mister_ Tree. I'm so very scared of being squished flat as an aum-"The rest of my retort was cut off as the boat shook suddenly, and Mako was sent hurtling into the inky black water. Holly cried out and waddled to the edge of the boat. I Quickly threw off my boots, taking only my sword as I dove after him. The water swirled around me and for a moment I was blind, then it was as if the ocean had been lit by an underwater sun, for I could see with complete clarity. The sage powers again. I could see Mako tumbling on the waves, little feet dangling, I could see bits of seaweed, and I could see a school of Gyorg headed right for our boat. I swam to Mako and grabbed one branchlike arm, and in moments we were gasping on the deck of the boat, dripping wet. For a moment, I couldn't think.

"Wow, That felt good. All that water." Mako said, as I continued to drip, kneeling on the boat.

"I want to try it!" Holly said.

"No! There's…" what was the word? It had just floated into my brain, as if I'd known all life and was just recalling. "…Gyorg! Stay away from the edge. They're very dangerous."

I looked over the railing and saw four bright pink fins circling our boat. I saw one charge forward, maw stretching wide, and didn't think.

I reacted. Reaching for my Deku Nuts, I hurled one and the creature stopped, momentarily stunned. I drew my sword and struck out, drawing long slashes and sending it beneath the waves. With a roar the remainder struck, making the boat rock and sending random supplies flying. Including my cello.

The words of the Deku Tree came to me then. "If you lose the cello, you might as well go serve Ganon, for you can help him in no greater way than by losing this instrument." Hurling Deku Nuts in all directions, and hearing Holly scream, I leaned over the edge of the boat and snatched at the cello.

_Just a little further… _I fell in and was attacked instantly by a Gyorg. Instinctively my hand went up, not with a sword, for I'd dropped it in the boat, or even any weapon at all. I formed my hand into the shape of a claw and three tiny green orbs of energy formed in my palm and I launched them straight into the beast's mouth. An explosion of smoke signaled it's death and I soon dealt with the other two. I climbed, exhausted, into the boat, and after making sure all was safe, sunk into a deep sleep, smiling as I sunk into blessed dark.

Chapter IX: Meeting Medli

(Laruto)

An icy chill drew down my spine as I burst into the room from which I'd heard the cry, using magic to blast it open. Before a massive window revealing a world of murky blue, sat a small, Rito, a girl. Without explanation, I grabbed her and yanked her out the door.

"Wha-who are you? What's happening?"

"_No _time!" I bellowed, yelping as I saw Ganondorf at the top of the stairs. The Rito, Medli I somehow knew, must have seen him too, for she stopped protesting. I put on an extra burst of speed and leapt up the stairs as fast as my robe and Medli would allow, harp slapping my back.

"Laruto! Slow down!" I didn't, and didn't stop to ask how she knew my name. I could almost feel Ganondorf's breath on my neck. As we ran, the hatred spreading from Ganondorf seemed to deepen. I hated Ganondorf for what he was, hated myself for my failure to my people, hated Medli for the weakness I sensed in her. Hated, hated hated. It seemed to follow Ganondorf like a thick, cloying cloud.

Rounding the next bend at a jump, I shoved Medli ahead towards the stairs. "Go! Go!" She took to the air and I turned left with a handful of feathers. I had to stop Ganondorf. But how? I turned, there he was, no more than three feet away.

"That's right. You will submit to the Power of the Triforce. _Kneel!_

My voice dripped with the hatred he spread so much of. I hoped I kept the fear that thudded in my heart out.

"Never."

"Then you will _die!_"

Without knowing what I was doing, I formed a claw with my hand. Three little balls of blue grew in my hand. I launched them at Ganondorf, yelling angrily.

"Die Ganon, you will perish by my hand or the Hero's!" I saw a shadow drop from the sky. Medli's talons ripped into the flesh of Ganon's forehead.

"Come on!" I yelled. We took off, me running, she flying, up the next flight, and the next, I knew what was coming and hoped to be far away when it happened.

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!**"

The air thickened for a moment before it hit. The walls began to shake and collapse, sending rubble everywhere. Medli landed and we kept running, dodging pale blue chunks of wall as they fell. Finally, I saw an outside exit. I raced towards it, Medli in tow and shoved it open. A tiny metal room waited beyond. I pulled a large dial and the next door opened, launching us into a world of water as if we were nothing. But this was my world, and I was instantly at home. Medli was a different story. Hers' was the world of air. I grabbed the back of her robe and rushed for the surface, unable to resist spinning as I went.

Medli gasped as we shot into the realm above, and I was shocked too, to see that a terrible storm was attacking Greatfish Isle. I looked all around for Jabun, but he seemed to be gone. Suddenly we rose into the air, water sliding down as Jabun lifted us onto his back.

"Well done, Laruto." I see you claimed the harp. I have a boat for you to begin your journey south to Headstone Isle, but first I must teach you a song, "The Earth god's Lyric". And from beneath me, Jabun began to sing. Slowly at first and softly. Everything seemed to melt away, and there was me, the harp, and Jabun, united by the song. As it faded and ended, I found my legs were asleep and Medli looking at me in wonder.

"That was amazing. I've never heard anything like it."

Before I could respond, Jabun spoke. "You must make way quickly. Medli will accompany you. The boat is tied to my tail, and fully stocked."

"How did you-what do you mean-go with her-I guess I could-" Medli continued stuttering, confused, and I quickly explained all that had happened.

"My family was visiting to discuss trade. I got trapped in that room when all the Zora in it died. My family seems to have disappeared. Hopefully they made it back to our island."

Tears stung my eyes at the thoughts of all the lost Zora, but I brushed them off. We said goodbye to Jabun and were soon sailing southeast.

"Why was that man after us? What did he want?" Medli asked once all was secure and we prepared to sleep.

"He hates everything, and wants to rule everything he hates. What makes a man like that, I haven't got a clue."

I promised to take first watch and Medli was soon asleep. I stared out at the islands all around, and the half-moon above, and lulled by the gently rocking boat, fell fast asleep.

Chapter X: Echoes of Doom

(Link)

I left Nemos's fountain feeling better than I had in some time. A feeling of deepest despair suddenly crept over me as a shadow drifted past me and above. Stealinx was still alive?

I didn't have time to think. I leapt into the air and flew after him, and reached the village seconds after the Shadow did, but seconds too late. The old man, Rygo, was under attack. Fading though it was in direct sunlight, pillars of light bursting through it, Stealinx's claw still had bite. I landed in front of the old man and held up a forward my right fist, glow of the Triforce leaving a mark on it's chest. In the other, the Waker hung down toward the ground, for I didn't know how to use it.

"You-you're burning me! Stop, please!" My only answer was a glare as I waited for the creature to fade. Soon it was gone, and I wondered vaguely if Ganon would still have a shadow.

Rygo cried out and his family gathered around him. I stepped back.

"Goodbye, my love," He said to the old woman. "Take care of the boy." His eyes grew milky and he was gone. After helping with the burial, I told them all goodbye and returned to the boat.

"Now let's see that Waker," he said eagerly, as soon as I'd filled him in. I pulled it out with little flourish. It was white, with two odd wings, giving it a sword-like appearance.

"Well? Give it a go. Try right, left, up." I did, swinging it vigorously. Nothing happened. "Most peculiar," he said after a moment. "You must not be meant to bear it. Give it to me for safe-keeping." I held it out, unable to hide my mounting disappointment. He swallowed the Wind Waker, and that was the last I ever saw of it.

"Well done, anyhow. Most distressing news about Rygo. He was a good man. We must leave at once," he said, and I climbed on board, though I knew little of sailing, he told me all I needed to know, and I asked, extremely curious, why a boat could talk and where he'd come from.

"I was made by a shipwright Zora for the King of Hyrule. He named me the King of Red Lions, but used me little. However, after the Hylians, the Zora are most magical of the tribes, and it was soon found that the King could control and talk through the boat, which he has used every opportunity to do."

It took me a moment for this to sink in. "So you're…"

"Yes, I am Daphnes Nohanson Hyrule. I am currently trapped but I have my ways of reaching the outside world."

"So…where are we going exactly?"

"You must go to the Tower of the gods to have your might tested. The way has been prepared for you, and the Tower will be ready to receive you."

I nodded and leaned back. The ride was long and for a born islander, mostly uninteresting. We passed a few islands but didn't stop. The King seemed to be in a hurry. We stopped at a tiny, green island. At the center of the island a blue statue of a beautiful girl holding in outstretched arms a massive pearl. My eyes were soon drawn lower, to the three figures waiting on the shore. A Korok, an odd little tree with a leaf for a face was bouncing up and down, a Rito was nervously stretching her wings, and a fish-man was floating at the edge of the sand.

"What's happening?" I asked the King of Red Lions, voice seeming to echo strangely on this magic soaked island.

"At the risk of repeating myself, you must go to the Tower and prove yourself. I spoke of preparation. Three pearls are needed to enter. I sent for them, and Valoo, Jabun, and

Deku have complied." With a nod from the King, all three couriers left, and we sailed on.

I could soon see a massive tower rising higher and higher into the sky, rushing upward like a slim mountain that had been pushed into a rounded shape. It had to be the biggest building in the world. We gently glided across calm waves through the massive arches reaching outward from the tower.

A small dark figure floated dead center in the middle of the water, a few dozen feet in front of the opening leading into the tower. As we neared the figure proved to be a man, clothed fully in black, with a white skull mask.

"Who are you?" I called out, voice sounding stronger than I felt. The response came soon enough.

"Your doom."

Chapter XI: The Storm

(Fado)

Loud cello music struck thunder head on as I played vigorously to make up for my wanting skill. Holly and Mako stood hugging each other at the boat's stern shivering fearfully and I sat in the bow, making music with a broad grin on my face as lightning attacked the waves and rain lashed our faces. The Koroks would not be calmed, despite my efforts, so I'd lashed down the tiller and started practicing.

Suddenly every hair on my head was standing on end. There was a flash of blue, and loud zap, and suddenly the boat exploded in a shower of splinters and flame. For a long moment I was lost, pushed along by the waves, pummeled and rolled like a barrel across the choppy water. For a moment the storm calmed and I saw Holly, bobbing high on the waves in an unnatural way. She was soon near enough to grab and I held tight.

"Fado…"she said, breath coming in strange gasps, "Can't find…Mako…" Suddenly she brightened and reached for her belt. "This might help." She reached for a bottle and gulped it down, and as suddenly as the storm had hit, she was a green and brown whale. The bandoliers and belt burst, sending bottles everywhere.

"I'm a whale. Isn't that cool?" she gushed as she swam downward then up, lifting me high and dry, or as dry as I'd be, dripping wet in a thunderstorm on the slick back of the weirdest whale in all the Great Sea. Before responding, I took a quick inventory. I'd held fast to my cello, sword and shield, but everything else save my clothes was gone.

"I can barely contain my glee. I'm so glad you didn't use a useful potion like a transporter to dry land."

"Me too! Isn't this more fun. I with we could find Mako."

By dawn the storm cleared, and still we hadn't seen a trace of the little Korok. I was sure he'd be fine, but Holly was growing increasingly hysterical. She was sure she'd heard him twice, and I could have sworn I'd heard a cry for help once, but we'd yet to find a trace of him. We hadn't even seen any wreckage from the boat.

"Hey, what's that?" she called out, "A fire spewing mountain straight in our path?"

I looked straight ahead and saw with a start that a small volcano was directly in our track. "Move to the side, Holly!" I called out.

"I can't!" she said, voice frantic. "I think the potion is wearing off. I can't move!"

The currents seemed to swirl straight into the fire spilling out. Holly was growing smaller and smaller, leaving me with a rapidly shrinking escape from water. With a small but audible _poof _she returned to complete normalcy. We both tumbled into the water in a tangle, the current instantly yanking us in a spiraling course for a fiery end.

"What are we gonna do?" Holly asked, fear in her voice obvious. The water was getting hotter and hotter, a symbol of the situation we were in.

"I don't know, but we'll be fine." I used my already battered shield as a platform and pushed away, swimming as hard as I could, but to no avail. I turned just in time to see a tiny bottle bobbing along shoot past. We both watched it go by. "…One of your bottles. What's in it?"

She peered closely. "Feathers."

"Feath-" A massive explosion shot out from the bottle as it struck the lava, but instead of flame, thousands and thousands of feathers filled the air all around us, covering me in scratches from the quills and tickling every bear inch of skin. I fought to the top, Holly riding on my shoulder, and began to struggle across what was now a field of feathers, with a swirling, burning center. "Hold on tight!" I yelled, and leapt into the warm water, just escaping the edges of the volcano's reach.

I clung to the shield again, this time relying on it for strength, and with vague worry, the first worry I'd ever felt, I sunk into deepest sleep with Holly on my shoulder and Mako on my mind.


	4. Part 4

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old

Chapter XII: Whispers of the Past

-Laruto

"Laruto! Wake up! Please!"

I blinked and opened my eyes, and immediately rain struck them. I could see shadows of strange, round creatures flying through the air all around the boat. Medli was standing over me, a worried, pained look in her eyes. Lightning and thunder flashed and boomed, as the boat swung across the choppy Sea.

All at once, she began to babble. "LarutoIdontknowwhattodowearesurrondedbyalotofweirdflyingthings."

"Hold on. Slow down. Those things are…"

_Seahat._

"…Seahats." The creatures were six feet tall, egg-shaped, with gash-like, tooth-filled mouths and odd propeller like wings crowning its head. Opposite end of the too-small wings were a bunch of spikes resembling a beard. One charged suddenly and slammed into the side of the boat.

Medli whimpered as a splinter could be heard over the striking boom of thunder. Another three came after the first and the boat was soon groaning loudly. I had no idea what to do. I would be fine deep underwater but I couldn't abandon Medli.

Then lightning flashed, and off in the distance two massive towers of islands could be seen. Another crash came, powerful enough to send Medli flying. I reached out and grabbed her wing almost too late and pulled her back.

"The boat's not going to make it!" We've got to swim for that island!"

"I can't swim!"

In a blur of events everything after that seemed to rush together like smeared ink on paper. I leapt for the water just as the boat exploded, sending fragments of wood here and there. I fell under the surface and could see a constant downpour of rain pounding the water above, seeming to stop short of hitting me and every time blending in to the waves.

Back in my world, I easily spun around and in slow, graceful spins flew towards the

tall island. I pulled myself out of the water and as if struck by thunder I remembered Medli. Lightning flashed and I could the last of our boat sinking in the distance. Seahats soared all over the water around it, probing the water every now and then as if looking for their lost prey. I called Medli's name and the answer came where I least expected it.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting and waiting." The bird girl walked from behind one of the nearby bushes and only then did I turn towards the island. I looked up and for a moment couldn't see a thing. Then lightning flashed again and I saw a massive shape, like a hollowed stump, stretch far above. A small bit of land jutted from this, containing a few narrow strips of plant covered ground and what sounded like a waterfall.

What I caught out of the corner of my eye caught my attention much stronger. An equally imposing, thorn covered island was just across from this one, but it was barely open at all, and reminded me of a terrible fortress I'd seen miles from home when I was very young.

"Keese." I whispered softly.

"What now?" Medli asked, fear crawling on her words.

"We…go in." I rasped, indicating the stump-like tower.

After a few moments we were waist deep in the cleanest water I'd ever felt. The bruises of the journey seemed to melt as we walked in the cavernous, sky-exposed grotto. I could hear bushes rustle and odd giggles as we walked, and could swear I saw a stubby brown limb twice. The whole room was centered on what appeared to be a enormous tree, but I'd never seen a tree more than twice the height of a Zora. This one stretched towards the opening of the cave.

As we approached the front of the tree I was surprised to see an intricate face carved on it, and wondered if the sculptor might still be around. Both of us screamed in shock when it spoke in a voice much like Jabun's, but far more rumbling.

"To what do I owe the honor of two young sages coming to call? Has the king sent you to bring me word? Is something amiss?"

We said nothing. We were too shocked.

"What? Moblin steal your brain? Speak!"

I finally found my wits and spoke. "I was named a sage by Jabun and sent on a mission south to Headstone. The Evil One has plans for the Master Sword, so I go there to protect it. I also bring worse tidings. Ganondorf struck my people. Very few remain." I looked at him fiercely, daring him to attempt comfort for the fresh wound.

"I am deeply sorrowed. I have not felt this mournful since Fado died. It has been centuries since I sent little Fado to his death."

The name struck a distant memory. "Who?"

Chapter XIII: The Cursed King

-Link

The man floated before me, exuding hatred and deeper still, a terrible, draining sorrow. The skull mask on his face had two horns, open holes revealing red irises, and a slim mouth hole that made his words echo. Then now familiar whisper came to me.

_The King of Helmacron- Ganon's Cursed Servant_

"YOU!" He bellowed suddenly, and it was all I could do not to start. "This day is your death, Link Hero of Time. Ganon wiped my people out ages ago, and I bound myself to him to weaken his power. Now I must do his bidding. . .I have found I enjoy it."

Without further word, he struck, drawing a broad black steel ax. I soared upward from the boat with sword in hand, sky and sea spinning, tower a horizontal bar as I stopped for a moment.

Then he attacked, but not with the ax. A blast of black lightning struck me full in the face and I went flying backward towards the arches. I caught myself just short of a broken bone and swung forward just as he hit again. This time I struck the water. The world flipped as I sunk under, and for a moment I was struck dizzy. Then I waited for a moment and soared from the water, tucked in a cannonball, spinning end over end. I unwound and struck in midair, drawing first blood on his forearm and a foreign curse. I prepared to strike again when lightning flew. This time I was sent tumbling end over end.

Sky and water swirled together and I couldn't tell up from down. I flew up towards the sea, clouds at my feet and decided to fight fire with fire.

"Two can do this dance." As I rocketed towards Helmacron, I put my right fist forward. The Triforce emerged and a beam of solid golden light shot forth, striking the king dead in the face, shattering his mask. He floated there, clutching at the burns, and then after a moment turned and spoke, stopping me cold with a voice far more terrible than his own. Borokai's.

"You. Again. Don't you ever sleep?" Then Ganondorf turned his attention towards the king. "You failed me. You think you were cursed before? Try _THIS _you pathetic failure"

Then the Helmacron King began to change. His boots fell apart as talons forced themselves out. His arms stretched and stretched, growing flatter all the while. Nose and mouth melted and became one, then turned a bright yellow. And while all this happened, he grew, at first a near diminutive five feet, he was now seven, now nine, stopping at about twelve. Last of all his mask reformed, shattered pieces coming upward and resettling, cracks vanishing as they were formed.

Soon floating before me was a massive, broad-chested raptor. The enormous bird of prey let out a keening wail and swooped after me.

I soared upward, flying in a wide arc over the bird, and came down, spinning end over end twice before coming sword down straight into the bird. He twisted suddenly as I came down and flew away, then dove at me as I rushed by and slammed into me with his skull mask. Stars swung across my vision but I pulled together fast and ducked down, preparing to slash his chest open.

Before I could react, a talon ripped across my face. Red filled my eyes as blood made a mask on my face. Before I knew it I was falling down. Water filled my sight and I plunged under.

Inky red clouds floated through the water around me. For one moment, I thought I could drift under forever, but then a flash of images came. Zelda and Tetra, the islanders, Meena, and everyone else I'd met. Everyone on the Sea depended on my strength.

Water exploded around me as I plunged upward. Helmacron had been waiting. He dashed at me as I surfaced and I flew backward. I stopped in midair and charged forward, flying up as if standing, and hauled my sword behind me across his side, drawing a long, red gash. The king snorted angrily and tucked his wings, coming after me like a feathered arrow.

I went up as well we flew spiraling apart from each other and soon we were near the top of the tower. Blood and feathers were now covering the surface of the water. Both of us floated there for a moment, waiting. Finally, I moved, knowing my cloak would soon fail me.

Twisting over and over, I shot up above him and for a moment my feet were in the sky, then I came down holding my sword before me. A black mist surrounded me and I was so stunned at falling right through the bird I didn't right away realize I couldn't fly anymore.

The arches loomed close and I tried to pull out. I closed my eyes, awaiting the crush of broken bones. All my breath whooshed out as I gasped at the pain of hitting the stone. But when I flopped over and saw the King descending on me, I knew nothing had broken.

Calm washed over me and every nerve settled, as Helmacron, confidant now in victory, swooped down for his prey. I lifted my hand and the Triforce began to glow, but no beam came forth. Instead the bird simply vanished. A golden outline hung where he'd been, falling about as golden powder.

Victorious, I turned my head to the tower as a growing storm bathed the area in shadow. My hand went up to my face and I winced, feeling three long scars across my face. But they had long stopped bleeding. Another gift from the Triforce, I knew. I found my gaze drifting to the entryway of the Tower.

"_You must go to the Tower of the gods to prove yourself."_

Chapter XIV: Driftwood

-Fado

A single eye popped open and blinding sun burst in. I turned away and opened both. I was lying on my side, water coming to my waist, leaving the rest in soggy sand. The shield sat a few feet ahead, and Holly was curled on top, fast asleep. My cello and sword, I soon saw, were also intact. I stood up then fell over, knees hitting the sand, horribly stiff. I looked up and saw a tall volcano with a ring of smoke around it, and felt a well-known whisper in my ear.

_Death Mountain. _But this time, when the whisper stopped, everything melted away and a storm of white took my vision. I found myself standing in a small, quiet village, a windmill spinning lazily on a nearby hill. Death Mountain stood in the distance, still imposing, still haloed by smoke. And then I realized there was no sea, no sea anywhere. This was the time before the second War. I'd been born before the time of islands, but had only vague memories, and couldn't place the exact time.

Soon everything was rushing away as if I was moving backward at an impossible pace. When I stopped I was in Kokiri Village, and felt an overwhelming homesickness for my early years. A blinding light issued from the tallest of the houses and a boy walked out, one who could only be the Hero of Time. The boy, whose small height seemed incongruous with the obvious power he held, spoke.

"He will come back to you. Find the old one." Then a storm of white and I was on my knees, on a sandy beach, staring up at a mountain whose name I couldn't for some reason recall.

Suddenly a blur of wind rushed by on either side. I stood and swept my hand back to my sword, gripping the hilt tight.

"You'll die before your sword ever leaves your scabbard, forest boy. I suggest not drawing it."

I Let my hand fall casually and grinned, as if I'd merely been planning to scratch my neck, and turned slowly. Two bird men, odd people fully bird like, but standing like Hyleans, or Kokiri were before me, one on the left, one on the right. The one on the left had spoken last. "Wouldn't dream of harming a feather on your head, Mister Bird. We are on our way to a distant island and lost our way.

"It's Mister Rito, not 'mister bird', Fairy man," the one on the right said.

"And it's Kokiri, not 'forest boy' or 'fairy man,'" I responded.

"We'd best take him to the chief, Yatalaa," Lefty suggested.

"The who?" I asked.

"Chief Komalu. I think you're right, Lerwng. 'Kokiri', grab your shield and onion, and come with us. Oh, and welcome to Dragon Roost, home of the Rito."

"…My what?"

"Whatever that thing is. The chief knows you're here. We mustn't make him wait. He doesn't like that.

The two led us up a long path and into the inner chambers of the not only inactive, but also seemingly completely hollow mountain. Holly awoke and perched wordlessly on my shoulder, staring upward at the massive hall, spiraling upward. The chamber was full of rough rock that looked unused. Rito bustled here and there, moving bags full of little scraps of paper I recognized as mail. We were brought and into a small room off the center, where a tall, regally dresses Rito was speaking with three others. But he and a short, plump Rito wearing glasses were lost as soon as I saw the third. There was no doubt in my mind. That one had to be a sage.

"Two pieces of driftwood for you, Chief." Lerwng said with an odd straightening of his wings. I realized when Yatalaa did so as well that it was a salute.

"Very well. Thank you. You may go back to patrol," the well-dressed Chief Komalu said. "I am Chief Komalu. What business have you on Dragon Roost Island?"

"Fado. And this is Holly. As to business, none, actually," I said, my comment bringing raised eyebrows. "Our boat was destroyed and we seek a way to Gale Island. Also, we…lost a friend when we were shipwrecked. We must find him." Holly gasped almost inaudibly, but said nothing.

"The hospitality of the Ritos is yours, for now. You may stay until a merchant ship comes. You can get passage to Windfall Island from there. Pwog, give them a place to stay in the storerooms. As to your friend, I will send out patrols, but don't cling to long to hope."

The short Rito was about to step forward when the sage spoke up. "I would be happy to do so, Komalu," he spoke in a calm but commanding voice, the only person I'd heard call the chief by name alone. I decided I would do the same.

Komalu looked briefly surprised but covered it before speaking. "Very well. Move along."

"Thank you, Komalu. We are very grateful."

We left the room in tow of the old Rito. "So, Sage Kokiri, what is your business at the old Temple of Winds?"

"Ganondorf is trying to gain footholds into this world by weakening the Master Sword. I and my two friends were sent by the Great Deku Tree to stop it."

"Most interesting. You don't need a boat, though, to leave."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm going to teach you something that will change everything. Your onion may not come, but she will find ingredients for many new concoctions in the kitchen."

"What are you going to teach me?"

"How to fly."

Chapter XV: The Gadgetician

-Laruto

_See the Hero fall…_

…_Crashing through the roof of the tower, now a man broken_

_See the Evil One come at him, raising the sword the Hero had taken from him_

…_Thrusting downward, striking at his heart…_

"_LINK!" _ I screamed and reached for the Relorg fish I kept by my bedside to illuminate my room, and slapped someone's face. Trees stretched high into the air above me, and it took me a moment to remember where I was. Medli was sitting up, hugging herself in fear, and I'd broken into a cold sweat. My face was hoarse, and a vague dream toyed with my memory, but I couldn't remember it.

"W-what's wrong, Laruto? Why'd you scream at me to link? Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yes. Don't worry about it." I rose from the pleasant, grassy area we'd been sleeping. The Great Deku Tree had promised us a boat at dawn and made us promise not to leave any sooner or later. The strange feeling left by the story of Fado was still there. A young sage sent to a temple to save the Legendary Sword, where he died. Would that be my fate?

"Where are you going?" Medli called behind me, as I prepared to leap into the stream.

"For a swim. I'll never get back to sleep."

"Neither will I. I'll come too. I could use a flight."

I burst out of the water flipping over and over and sending a massive wave into the air at Medli. She laughed as she dodged most of it and soared after me, sending cold air onto my wet skin. I shivered and dove underwater. She flew in circles for a moment, and then flapped to gain altitude. I followed her underwater and began to float on top of the water, face down.

"Laruto? L-laruto? Oh no! She's hurt! She may need medical related attention…!" I heard a rush of wind as she swooped downward, then she yelled out again from much closer. "I know you're faking! I'm going to land right on your back!" I swerved to the side just as a feathered bullet struck the water before zooming back into the air.

"Hah ha…what's that?" she broke off suddenly.

"Come on. You can try harder than that." But when she didn't respond, I looked in the same direction. A small dark shadow was speeding across the ocean. At first I thought it must be an animal but it moved unnaturally fast. "Get out of here!" I screamed as the thing reached us.

It churned up the water everywhere, creating whirlpools that whipped me here and there, and then suddenly sent a blast of water upward, launching me with it. Gallons of water rushed ahead of me as I hung in midair for one stomach turning moment.

The water reached out to embrace me and…

I screamed and struggled to sit up, then yelped again as dull pain ripped through my left arm. Tears ripped their way past my eyes as I struggled to stand, left leg burning as if lit by a torch.

"Calmsy down, calmsy down!" a strange, squeaking and wholly unfamiliar voice implored me and I felt a tug at my arm. "I still haven't tied the splitsels! Tell her, Birdly wirdly thing!" I laid back and looked around. We were in sand, a small, rocky mountain shading us from the sun, and enclosing us like a three-sided arena. A large cylinder covered in what looked like garbage lay at the shore. Odd tubes and wires and glass spheres stuck out all over, and I also thought I spied a few familiar devices, including an anchor hole and a periscope. Medli stood nearby, wringing her wings and casting me nervous, severely worried glances.

When I saw the owner of the strange voice, I started and screamed again. A talking bush! No. Not a bush, but an odd little creature with a mask-like face wielding wide eyes and an even wider nose. The body looked like wood, and a long mane of leaves grew from atop it.

He bowed when he caught my stare. "Gris, Deku Scrub Gadgetician, at y' serv-ice. Or…was it Gadgeteer? Or Technoscrub? Um…oh! I should introduce you to my family."

"I'm Laruto. What happened here? Where are we? What hit me? Was it you?"

Medli broke in. "You got hit by Mr. Gris's…supperine and…

"Submarine."

"Do I _look_ like I give a Moblin's butt? You smashed up the left side of her body! Keese! Do you know what trouble you've gotten us into?"

"I _told _you I was sorry-e-e-e. What am I supposeded to deoo?

"Start by telling us where we are," I said. An odd feeling of familiarity came from every rock and grain of sand. I couldn't shake the feeling I'd been here before.

"This? Just some little rocky islet. Headstone Isle, I think it's called."


	5. Part 5

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XVI: Remnants of Old  
  
-Link  
  
I leapt back ward firing my new bow upward. A massive hand slammed down just in front of me, but I was already soaring upward. The strange monster, just a head and hands made of green stone, pounded the ground again, this time in frustration. I pulled out the last of my bombs and jammed it into the creature's mouth. The stone being flew back into the wall where it had come from, and I found myself waiting for it to speak.  
  
As I stood calmly I felt warm blood coming down my arm and realized I'd been seriously wounded on my forearm. I reached for my soup but suddenly I swerved into the air out of control.  
  
I went hurling end over end toward the roof, unable to fly, or even move as the ceiling rushed forward to meet me.  
  
My eyes closed involuntarily for a second and when I opened them, I was laying on a tile floor on the roof of the tower. I groaned in pain and pulled myself to my feet, sky seeming unnaturally close so high up, and found my eyes drawn downward, towards a raised stone platform which until it became the holdings for a bell. A rotting rope fell to the floor.  
  
Before I knew it, my hands were wrapped around the decayed rope. I let out an exhilarated yell and swung forward. Gray clouds surrounded my boots as my feet went up, then the ground went by and I was up again. The bell released a massive boom as I went, echoing outward across the water.  
  
After the second time, the ancient cord snapped and I went flying, but the bell kept ringing. I hit the ground and in an eye-blink I was back in the King of Red Lions, floating towards a glowing ring of light in the water.  
  
Suddenly as we entered the ring there was a flash of white and we were descending through the waves. When we stopped, we were in a tiny pond at the door of a massive castle. But I barely noticed details. There was no color. Everything was painted in blacks, whites and grays, as if something had jerked it all away. The only color came from me, mostly green, and the King, mostly red.  
  
"Where-where are we?" I whispered, not daring, for all the respect this place commanded, to speak louder.  
  
"Hyrule. The old land. It has much changed since your ancestors last stood here. It has become a stronghold against Ganon's terrible evil. You have proven yourself. Enter, and be not afraid." His words seemed odd, strangled somehow, but I knew I had no choice. Without a word, without looking back, I stepped into the castle.  
  
A sadness like none I'd ever known washed over me. This had been a place of much suffering, but also, I felt, a place of hope and joy in spite of it. The cavernous hall stretched high above me, echoes of my footsteps adding to my melancholy mood. Out of place statues of Moblins, Bokoblins and Iron Knuckles gave the room a bizarre atmosphere. Another sculpture, far bigger, stood dead center at the foot of the main stair. It was of.me?  
  
No. It was -the- Link. The first Hero, the first bearer of the Triforce of Courage. I neared the statue and looked up, then started as with a loud grate the statue moved before my gaze, revealing a flight of steps.  
  
I walked down slowly and came out in a massive room, as big as the last, the stair stretching on to the floor, where a circle of water met it. The water surrounded a stone podium that was guarded by five giant statues. They seemed to be guarding something specific, but I couldn't tell what. Beyond the statues were stained glass pictures of seven beings. Three I took to be Hylians, one an old man, the other two women. The two looked imposing and strong, one with hair of fire, the other of ice. Then there was a little girl with emerald hair, a strange, round, brown furred man, and an evil black creature that stopped my breath.  
  
-Ganon.-  
  
It was Borokai, Ganondorf, in his true form. My eyes wandered and met on the last of them. Meena? It couldn't be. These windows were, with Ganon being the exception, depictions of the Six Sages. -It must be another Zora- , I thought, and walked on.  
  
As I reached the bottom of the stairway, all light vanished, plunging me beyond the reach of shadow and into complete black. Then the Triforce symbol on my hand glowed, and I used its beam to reach the object at the center of the platform. Without warning, this last lantern went out as well, pushing me deeper into darkness. I reached out and clasped the thing, my hand closing instinctively around the hilt of a sword I'd never grasped before, yet it seemed as if I'd held this blade every day of my life.  
  
Light returned and a voice seemed to boom across the way. "The Hero claims the mighty Master Sword. Legends long spoke of this day. I was beginning to wonder if I'd see them come true. Long has this land been little more than a remnant of old, as the strongholds of the King of Hyrule and the King of Evil battled beneath the waves, forgotten."  
  
The speaker revealed himself to be a large, stout, old man draped in a red robe, his craggy features crowned by long white hair, and this was topped by a large crown that his size made seem smaller. The King of Red Lions.  
  
"But why wield you a blade of evil? How could the Hero of Time keep a blade forged deep in the earth, wielded by the Evil King?"  
  
"I claimed it from him. It is his no longer."  
  
"You need it no more. Cast it aside."  
  
"I mean to end his life with it."  
  
"You will fail. Only the Master Sword can kill him."  
  
"I will do whatever it takes it to destroy Ganon."  
  
"Nonetheless, the laws I, Daphnes Nohannson Hyrule, laid in place must be followed. The time for your test is now."  
  
One by one, all five statues stirred above me.  
  
Chapter XVII: Wishes and Smoke  
  
-Holly  
  
"Hmmm. I think this one needs a little more Chu jelly." I stood over a pot in a back room off the main hall, piles of bottles scattered all over the floor, some were empty, but in the two weeks we'd spent here, I'd filled most of them. I'd been moved here after turning seven Rito into seven different flavors of cheese when a potion had exploded.  
  
Fado had spent most of his time with the old Sage. The strange bird, with his oddly curt way of talking, had completely ignored me, beyond an explanation to how he knew my trade. "I can smell potions all over you, little onion." Everyday between meals they went to a high clifftop, though I'd never seen what they did.  
  
"A little more Kyorg fin, maybe some crushed seaflower." Fado spent every night after a light dinner (we didn't eat much there, as Ritos eat little in the way of Forest folk's preferences) playing his cello. He'd gone a long way since his first time in the thunderstorm, playing outside the entry to the mountain hall till his fingers were blistered. His music had become very pleasant to listen to, and I went out with him every night now. Fado hoped the music would reach Mako and guide him here. Between the lessons with Old Man Rito, the cello playing, and the loss of Mako, Fado had lost all his former cheer.  
  
His familiar grin seemed to have been lost in all that had gone on. That particular night I suddenly realized I'd again worked through the evening meal. I quickly doused the fire and dipped a bottle into the pot, then stoppered the bottle and after dropping it, strode for Fado's favorite place to play as soon as I could.  
  
He was already playing when I got there, a lilting tune mixing with the ebb and flow of the waves. But this night, something was different. Halfway through, he stopped, and dropped his bow.  
  
"This is pointless. I can tarry no longer. We leave tomorrow." With no trace of a smile, Fado picked up his bow and fixed me with a slightly bloodshot stare. "Remember this, Holly. Hope is nothing more than wishes and smoke. Nothing more at all."  
  
Chapter XVIII: "So close."  
  
-Medli  
  
"So close. So very close." Laruto whispered so quietly I had to lean to hear her.  
  
"What.do we do now? You cannot move. Do I.go on alone?" I heard the tremble in my own voice and dreaded her answer, but I was ready to do what I had to.  
  
"Go alone? -Go alone?-" A darkness like a thunderstorm crossed her face. I felt for a moment like I was the one crippled.  
  
"You are ripe with weakness. You will fail." I winced at the biting, hateful words, but stood my ground with knees trembling.  
  
"I will do what I must-"  
  
"Stopstop. This does no goodness. Fishygirl hurt. Birdygirl, fly westwardnessly. Healer heal Fishygirl." His speech seemed to change back and forth between three different accents. I had to struggle to understand him. Laruto said nothing, collapsing inward.  
  
"What will I do then? Bring him here?"  
  
"No, no. The healer makes legendary soups. I will take your friend in my submarine, and you fly ahead and give them advance warning."  
  
As I made ready to fly off, the weird creature called out towards the beach. "Eh-heh! Outward, my family! Come Cufell, Mufell, Gurgall, Wurgall, Kell, Mel, Troll, Poll, Knoll, and stinkly little Burt!" Ten Deku Scrubs popped out of the 'submarine', each one shorter than the last, until tiny little Burt, with a cloud of flies buzzing around his head.  
  
"He won't let me bath him," Gris said, looking embarrassed.  
  
I shook my head, and, with one last look at Laruto, I took to the air without saying a word. 


	6. Part 6

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter IXX: Grounded  
  
-Link  
  
The ground rumbled and shook beneath my feet and the world seemed to have spun away, leaving me in a much larger arena, surrounded by five statues brought to life. There was nothing else they could want. The battle was underway. The battle my -king- had left me to. He was gone.  
  
-Dror-  
  
-Firos-  
  
-Kilp-  
  
-Gewten-  
  
-Ior-  
  
-Servants of the King-  
  
I held a sword in each hand as I took to the air. A massive spear flew my way with unnerving grace. I dodged it only to fly in the face of Firos. The room was suddenly tumbling around me and pain seared across my vision. One of the windows bearing a picture of the Triforce shattered as I struck it, sending me out into the now colorful world beyond, a rain of stained glass all over me.  
  
But the Triforce was there when I needed it.  
  
Winded but somehow unhurt, I flew forward then spun and went back through the opening, just before it sealed itself with plain glass.  
  
All five statues waited for me. I ducked between two, a third smashing down with it's spear, narrowly missing my feet. I landed on Gewten's shoulder and began spinning and slashing with both swords. My efforts didn't deliver a single chip. Unable to reach me, Gewten ran towards Ior, pointing his shoulder forward. I leapt free, but suddenly felt a sharp pain on my neck. The room became a blur as I hit the ground rolling. Gewten and Ior seemed to be dazed, both their shoulders ruinous, leaving their right arms nearly disconnected.  
  
The remaining three were thundering towards me, the ground shaking beneath their feet. I jumped into the air.  
  
. . .and came down as quickly. My cape was gone. I could see it, now, caught on a bit of Gewten's armor. A spear hit the ground with explosive force just inches from my head. I struggled to stay out of the way of feet rocking and smashing the ground into unending quakes that put me in the air nearly as much as my cape.  
  
When a spear hit me and sent me into the river that had come out of the tiny circular pool beneath the windows, I thought all hope lost.  
  
-To come this far. . . -  
  
The water played with me for a few moments before I fought my way to the ramp, where the statues waited still.  
  
"It ends."  
  
I spoke the words without knowing why and soared into the air, the Triforce glowing brilliantly, surrounding me with impenetrable golden light. I came at Dror and this time my swords found hold. I landed only to spin on one foot towards the next target, rubble raining down.  
  
Firos and Ior came at me together and I flew between them both, and circled around Firos's head. I kicked hard and both smashed together, falling to the ground.  
  
I was about to make an attack on Kilp when suddenly a spear came flying at my incandescent shield. Both shattered, leaving me dazed and grounded yet again, my swords gone, having flown across the room.  
  
Gewten swung his lance at me again, but this time I wrapped around it and held on. When he brought it up, I rolled down and landed on the left shoulder. A quick jump and I was hanging by my cloak.  
  
Gewten was livid with anger, slamming everything he could to shake me, and falling apart in so doing. I was shook free and sent flying crazily, unable to control the cloak from this side.  
  
Kilp swung an enormous fist at me and I barely missed his outstretched hand. He picked up Firo's mostly undamaged arm and hurled it at me.  
  
I was suddenly pinned to the ground with both statues advancing. I gave one last push and the arm struck Kilp. I swept the cloak around my shoulders and followed it into the air. I flew through Kilp's rubble and struck Gewten feet first, sending him tumbling to the ground, where he fell apart at last.  
  
I picked up my swords and stood leaning on them, breath escaping in ragged gasps, as applause reached my ears from the stair.  
  
"Well done, Link. This test has proven your courage true-"  
  
"At least one of us was entertained. I could have been killed! It is I who should be testing you! It is the blood of my fathers that has kept our people safe!"  
  
I felt only hatred for the man I'd once called king. With a snort of derision, I flew from the room and into the world beyond. I was through with his manipulation.  
  
Chapter XX: Leap of Faith  
  
-Fado  
  
"It is only a simple jump, a leap of faith. Easy, or have your spite and sarcasm grown too heavy for you?"  
  
I stood on the cliff's edge where I'd spent much of the past two weeks. The old Rito, Maestro, had taught me a hundred things about being a sage, sharpening my skills and toughening my mind. One thing I'd been itching to point out was that he still hadn't taught me to fly. I'd informed him we left tomorrow, and he'd brought me here, and told me straight off to jump over the edge of the cliff.  
  
"I didn't come all this way to throw it all out. I'm not going to kill myself."  
  
"Kill yourself! Ganon can take far more than your life. What are you so afraid of?" he responded, peering into my eyes.  
  
"Nothing! I do not fear!" I found my mood growing more and more heated.  
  
"Wrong!" he roared. "Everyone fears something. What is it for you?  
  
"I fear only failure."  
  
"Then you need not worry. Failure will not meet you here if you make this jump."  
  
"I do not see what I have to gain by this." Without another word, I leaned forward and off the cliff.  
The side of the cliff and, long pinnacled rocks that reached into the sky soared past me. My hair was whipped upward and I was glad I wasn't wearing my hat. The sea rushed to greet me but as I neared it, I felt the burden of my last three weeks melting away, and for the first time in nearly as long, I smiled.  
  
The air seemed to shift and change around me. Suddenly I could see as I fell the wind that brushed through the waves, the grass of distant islands, my face. Everything seemed to have shifted and grown deeper. I could not only see the whites, blues, reds and yellows of the wind, but also the dark and light currents coming out of a Rito on the beach.  
  
I reached out both hands and came to a stop a few feet above the waves. I tilted my legs and felt water brush my boots. Tucking my arms, I soared upward in a sudden blast, sending waves of green outward when I stopped. I laughed and went upward again, without stopping. I flew in loops above Maestro's head. To my surprise he joined me in the air. We circled and spun around each other, laughing and slamming into each other.  
  
Suddenly I was aware of Holly, back down on the cliff, screaming something.  
  
". . .Fado! Fado? Come quick! Something's not right, but it's Mako. He's been found!"  
  
Chapter XXI: Courage and Darkness  
  
-Medli  
  
The wind swam through my feathers as I flew for the growing island before me. A thousand images rushed through my brain as I flew, of past, present, and future. I hadn't expected such stinging words out of someone I'd grown so close to.  
  
As I neared the island I could make a small divided island mountain. A few dozen tiny huts were clustered at the foot, and a very tall tower stood at the eastern edge, where I was coming in. The tower consisted merely of a long pillar with a ladder on one side and a small wooden platform, open to the sky, at the top. Tools and lumber were scattered on it and the beach nearby.  
  
A single Hylian was crouched atop it, hammering in a board. I neared and called out.  
  
"Hey there! Injured Zora on the way! We need your healer!"  
  
"AVAST, INTRUDER! I will smite thee mightily with the power of the Waker! Tremble, young falconess, for your death day is at hand!" A young boy with a mop of blond hair and blue eyes glared fiercely up at me, wearing a Kyorg shirt and green pants, he was hardly imposing.  
  
"I mean no harm. We really need help."  
  
"The mighty eagle avails not my commands! I will destroy her and make dinner for my hungered family!" He pulled out a strange wand from some pocket and pointed it at me.  
  
In mid-laugh I was about to fly on and ignore him when a voice whispered to me.  
  
-The Wind Waker-  
  
A blast of solid wind hit me like a crashing wave and the sky, ocean and island swirled into each other as I fell backward and down. I lifted my wings and flapped hard for the blue above. If I fell into the water I wouldn't be able to fly until I dried out. I swooped around and landed on the ladder, and flew up in short bursts. When I reached the top, I ducked my head up and down quickly.  
  
"Cowardly crow! Fight like a hawk!" A blast of wind sent tools and lumber winging past my head. I darted a hand out and grabbed a wooden hammer.  
  
I leapt up, flipped to the left, and flung the hammer at his wand arm. . .  
  
. . .and missed. A howl of pain reached my ears anyways, and a quick look showed he'd gotten it to the foot. I quickly scooped up the Waker where he'd dropped it and pointed it at his face.  
  
"The healer. Now."  
  
-Laruto  
  
The eleven Deku carefully loaded me into the 'submarine' and into a bed. One by one they hopped in after me and took various stations. Except Burt. The smelly little Scrub had fortunately taken an extreme liking to me and decided to never leave my side.  
  
"And then Poll said, you gonna eat that, and I said, of course, and he said, no you ain't, and just took it! I was so pi-"  
  
"Enough, Burtsy. Leave her alone." Gris came and picked him up, holding him by one foot before chucking him someplace aft.  
  
He returned to the controls and soon the ship submerged. Sea water covered us, but didn't touch. I found myself longing for the embrace of the water, missing it's comfort. As I looked out at passing fish through the porthole, I thought back to what I'd said to Medli, wishing I could take it back. What could have made me say that?  
  
More important, would it be back? 


	7. Part 7

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XXII: A Hero Captured  
  
-Link  
  
I couldn't fly fast enough. It seemed as though I would never leave that place of pain and disgust. And maybe part of me never would. The actions of the king and myself kept flowing through my head even as I left.  
  
As I flew by the monument to the Hero, I suddenly realized all the statues in battle poses scattered around the hall had come to life. I didn't give them time to attack, however, and simply flew on, out the exit.  
  
No longer the only two objects of color, I could see the green of the grass and the stone floor beneath the crystal clear water. The King of Red Lions instantly began yelling at me, begging me to stop. I didn't even glance at him and made for the world of water above.  
  
I was already winded by the time I reached the air above, gasping for breath before I was higher than the massive arches. A growing stitch wound it's way from ribcage to stomach the longer I flew. I didn't exactly know what to do. Throughout my journey, I hadn't been completely without guidance since I'd run from home. I knew I had to face Ganondorf eventually. I just didn't feel ready to soar into his tower, tip my hat, and kill him.  
  
I headed for civilization, not knowing what else to do. A pleasant little island town that reminded me of home on Roc's Island neared. By the time I was anywhere near it, the pain of simply moving on was growing with each passing second. The waves went from a distant wall of blue, to a growing field of it, reaching out to take me in. . .  
  
"Guhp!" The wooden wall of a large ship put an end to my worries, and my flight, and I found darkness as eager as the water for my company, and both welcomed me.  
  
"Oah, boy. He hit his head pretty dang hard, Miss Zelda."  
  
"That he did! Would you get a load that bump! His hat ain't gonna fit snug, that's for sure, Miss Zelda!"  
  
"Clear off! He needs his rest- Looks like he's coming around." Wide blue eyes stared into mine and for a moment I forgot how to speak.  
  
"Hey-Uh, er. . ."  
"Oh, no! He can't talk straight!"  
  
"If I have to tell you again to clear off. . ."  
  
No words. A door banged many times, though. As I looked up, I realized I hadn't really looked at her before. We'd talked for a few minutes, but I'd been preoccupied, caught up in the rush of events that had driven me from home. She wore her long, brown hair unadorned and dressed still in the simple garments of a pirate, and her pretty face was just as I remembered it, looking nothing like the imagined captains of all the terrible stories I'd heard from friends, elders and books.  
  
She smiled as I sat up. "Are you alright?" Her face scrunched suddenly with worry. "You -can- speak, right?"  
  
"Yes." I smiled as well. I'd never liked talking much, and though I'd had trouble at first, the words slid out easily now. We talked for a very long time, sharing stories of what had happened since I'd been forcibly taken from her presence. She told me of an increasing number of dangers across the sea, and how everyone on board was looking forward to reaching Windfall. Eventually, the long talk turned to our lives. I told her about my cape and how my father had turned on me on my coming of age, my sixteenth birthday.  
  
". . .Wait. Coming of age is thirteen, isn't it?"  
  
"I guess not everywhere. Maybe they just thought I was a slow learner."  
  
She laughed and after some questions from me she told me a little of her life. Her father had been a merchant who had married a young pirate. Zelda said her family had been pirating for as long as they could remember, but unlike most pirates in their search for gold, hers' never hurt anyone. She'd lost both parents to an attack from some of the strange forces that had been roaming the sea, rumored to be sent out by Ganondorf. Tetra's father had met a different fate. He'd simply disappeared. At landfall on a distant island he'd gone missing, and no search seemed able to bring him back.  
  
"Bare rock and stone, it was. Now a terrible fortress. I held out hope for years of returning to find him, but I know now in my heart he is dead. What are you going to do about -him-?" she asked, referring unmistakably to Ganondorf.  
  
"I am going to go where dirt meets lava, deep within the foundations of the Earth, and claim the Goron War-Hammer of legends past, for by it alone can the Triforce be sundered."  
  
I expected some confusion on Zelda's part, for no one could have been as confused as me, but she merely nodded. "So you're going to shatter it. It makes since, really. If you fail to destroy Ganon, he won't get your power. But I don't need to tell you that."  
  
"Wha. . .um, yeah. So do you happen to know what became of the Hammer?"  
  
"Before the Gorons fled deep into the earth, they lived on Death Mountain. Perhaps you should find what became of it."  
  
I nodded, deep in thought, and Zelda pushed me out of the room. "I need some sleep," she said, "You can find a hammock somewhere in the lower decks. The galley's always warm." We bid each other good night and I wondered out on the deck, not at all tired.  
  
The whole night had gone by in such a rush, I could barely think. I wasn't sure when it had happened, but I knew I'd fallen in love with Zelda.  
  
Chapter XXIII: Troubled Mind  
  
-Holly  
  
I hopped easily onto Fado's shoulder as we walked down the stone hallway towards the central chamber. Though that's not accurate. I was stresses at Mako's peculiar condition on returning to us, and failed to notice at the time that Fado was floating a few inches off the ground.  
  
A cloying crowd of Rito was surrounding Mako as we approached. It wasn't long before I could hear him mumbling.  
  
"These are the legends of the Waker, the legends of Zelda, of the Hero, of the Evil King. Of the Triforce. In the beginning. . ." And on he went, launching into a tale of the history of the world, all in a low mumble, all with his eyes clouded and vacant.  
  
Fado pushed through the throng and knelt before him. As I leaned forward and looked into his eyes, I felt a scream dawn on my lips and die before it could escape. A darkness, a strange evil, was pooling within.  
  
"What did you see?" Fado whispered, leaning close, and it was then I noticed his own eyes seemed strange.  
  
He leaned forward and closed his eyes, pressing both hands heavily on Mako's brow. Suddenly his eyes shot open and he was tossed across the room. I ran to him and saw his eyes roll up just before the lids covered them.  
  
"FADO!"  
  
-Fado  
  
Darkness washed over me in a flood. When I could finally see again, I stood on a dirt path, with green grass stretching forever in all directions, more grass than I'd seen since I'd been born, at the vast plains of Hyrule Field. The sky was dark and angry, ready to explode into thunder and lighting. I heard a voice whisper my name and turned, but there was no one there.  
  
The little path stretched straight into the horizon. I didn't know why I was here, or what this had to do with Mako. The sky lit up suddenly, and without planning or meaning to, I broke into a run along the trail.  
  
As I went, trees sprouted up along the trail on both sides, but not the loving trees I remembered from home, that had made waking every morning so pleasant, as their scent filled the air. Trees I somehow knew I would never see again. These trees were stunted, little higher than the mast of the boat we'd left the Forest with. Gnarled and black they reached for the sky like the hands of broken giants.  
  
I reached the horizon quicker than I would have thought possible but before I could see what waited for me, Mako's voice boomed and echoed across the transparent, all too unreal world.  
  
"These are the legends of the Waker. . ."  
  
The voice kept going, but I couldn't hear it because I'd seen the horizon. A forest of mismatched glass and jewel lumps were scattered here and there amidst what seemed to be a wood. A real one, not twisted trees along a path. As I crossed the distinct line from field to forest, the sky changed into an odd white, with midnight blue cutouts shaped like mountains staining it from the horizons. When I glanced inside a boulder of sapphire I saw distorted images of the Forest, of Kokiri, and even myself and realized I stood on the landscape of Mako's mind.  
  
I walked on, feeling a purpose of direction but not knowing where I was going and soon came into a clearing at least three dozen full grown felled trees across. A glint caught the odd light and I walked to the middle of the meadow and reached a glass pillar. On the glass pillar stood a tiny Mako, no higher than a young blade of grass. I picked him up and his voice squeaked something but I couldn't make it out.  
  
I heard a roar and the cracking and swishing of trampled vegetation and a massive, serpent like dragon ambled out of the trees and glass.  
  
-Majora's Servant-  
  
Purplish veins jutted from blood red skin all over the creature's body. Thin, leathery wings stretched into the air and blotted out a portion of the pearl and navy sky. I slipped Mako under my hat and drew my sword. A gasp of shock drove away the silence that had descended. The Kokiri Sword had transformed into a much longer weapon, gold mixing with steel to make a gilded blade. Before I could think about this, green-gold armor incased me from head to foot, and a shining silver shield appeared in my right hand.  
  
I leapt into the air with an easy grace and lunged forward with the blade outstretched. It swung with a small whir through the creature's wing and it fell to lift him no more. I slashed into a foot and took a blow from the other, but ignored it and readied to take off the monster's head. Majora's Servant roared suddenly and unleashed a blast of foul green flame. I was knocked back and felt my armor melt away. It pooled at my feet as I stood, green-gold mixing with silver. I watched my sword lose its enhancement and prepared my next attack.  
  
As I ran forward and Majora's Servant drew its breath, Holly dropped out of the air. Not the Korok as she was, but the way she'd been. A wave of brilliant gold hair flashed as she pulled out a bottle and jumped back, a thousand needles of silver liquid launching from the bottle and striking the creature before us. I felt the armor pressing my clothes down again and once again came forward, but this time the flame didn't stop me. The skin of the beast was spotted with silver all over its chest. I swung my sword through the thick neck and the whole body vanished before the head could touch the grass.  
  
A screaming wave roared past us, red and purple mixed with terrible black eyes. Mako stood in front of us a moment later, also a Kokiri, raking a hand through black locks. Holly grinned at me familiarly and I felt an infinite homesickness as we stood together.  
  
And then Mako was growing to fill the space around us, and Holly and I were sent soaring straight into the sky.  
  
When I awoke, I could see the cavern ceiling high above, and Holly rising to her feet nearby. But. . .she was a Kokiri! She was looking with surprise at her own hand. I looked over and saw Mako stretching his no longer stubby legs as far as they would go.  
  
As I looked around, I suddenly realized the Rito were pressed against the walls in terror. Holly broke the silence first.  
  
"I think we've overstayed our welcome."  
  
Chapter XXIV: Medli's Resolve  
  
-Medli  
  
My confidence was fast eroding. I held the Wind Waker pointed into the boy's back as we walked through the village. The village proved to be shockingly deceptive, for what had appeared to be a few dozen huts from the air had proven to be a tightly packed town, with small dirt roads, shouting ringing from various cartside salesmen, and alleys occupied by the occasional begger. In short, it could not have been what I saw.  
  
"What is this trickery?" I asked, forcing more resolve into my voice than I owned. I tried to do what Laruto would do. I tried to -be- Laruto. Medli wasn't going to get anything done today.  
  
"Fairy magic," he responded sounding uncomfortable but far less insane than he had before. "Nemos is ashamed she let Outset fall into such disarray. The tower is supposed to help intercept anyone who gets too close. She's very vain. Why do you need a healer? You seem healthy enough."  
  
"My friend is seriously-" What was I doing? Laruto would never give away such information to someone she couldn't trust. "My business is my own."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
We crossed a massive wooden bridge, with more houses and stores on either side, and eventually reached a house larger than most around it. When we stepped in I saw a Hylian woman with dark hair that probably met their standards of beauty, but Rito, unlike Zora, do not notice other species. I ignored her, even though she had to be the healer I sought. It was the building's other occupant I was watching. A Rito. I dropped the wind wand when our eyes met, but my weak resolve was lost, and I didn't notice.  
  
For the woman before me was none other than my mother.  
  
-Laruto  
  
A haze of pain made the sky twist and my eyes squeeze shut. The Deku moved me from the submarine to the beach with no trouble, but it was too much when Burt leapt onto my broken arm. He chattered away as the rest of Gris's family constructed seemingly from nowhere a stretcher made of leaves. Burt, of course, rode with me.  
  
A darkening sky met my eyes when I opened them again. We seemed to be moving through a dirty, crowded city. The Deku family and their passenger were met with stares as we walked through the street, obviously out of place among so many Hylians, broken only by the occasional Rito postman or Goron Merchant.  
  
As we neared a bridge, all ten Deku on the lookout for some sign of Medli or the healer, a shadow blocked the weak sunlight. A massive man that looked like he pulled wagons for a living and a deeply suntanned face that suggested he moonlighted as an anvil crossed his arms and blocked the way.  
  
"Yew cen't pass 'ere witout my permissin, sirs."  
  
Quietly I was set down. Quietly ten bows were drawn. Quietly Gris spoke, "At your leave, sir."  
  
Without speaking, he bowed, held out a hand and stepped back. We moved on, and the pain absorbed me again. I think we moved across the bridge at that point. The breaks in my body were worse than I'd thought, even then. With every jarring step I felt the broken bones in my face move. I'd reached a point beyond being able to perceive much, but came to again when we finally stopped.  
  
We were inside a small house, old furniture scattered sparsely here and there. Medli and a boy with a mop of blond hair stood a few feet away. Across from them were a stunningly beautiful Hylian woman with short, oddly curled black hair and a tall, well-dressed Rito. When I looked back at Medli, I realized her face was contorted with rage. She reached down and swept up a gray wand from the ground and lunged at the Rito, screaming as she went.  
  
"I'll kill you!" 


	8. Part 8

l Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XXV: Where the Dragons Roost  
  
-Link  
  
I sat on the deck till sunrise, thinking of nothing in particular, except Zelda, who popped into my thoughts every once in a while no matter what I was thinking of. What could Meena be doing right now? Did she wonder what became of me? Had my father told her? Did he miss me? Did Zelda like me? I'd then shake my head, go back to thinking about something else, and come back to Zelda every time.  
  
When light finally began to stretch its way across the sea, I could make out Windfall to the northwest, and a mountain with a ring of smoke about it too the northeast. As I stared at the mountain, I suddenly remembered what I'd seen in the old history books a man in my village had kept. From what I'd heard, their contents weren't common knowledge. When I realized what the mountain was, I shouted so loudly that I was soon surrounded by pirates.  
  
"Death Mountain! It's right there! Make for northeast straightaway!"  
  
"Eh?" A small pirate carrying a book stepped forward. "Best wake Miss Zelda, if you want a change of course. You're going to have to do it, though. Nobody ever wakes her without getting an earful!"  
  
I ran to the cabin yelling all the way, and upon tearing open the door to her room, received a pillow to the face and a massive bellow straight in my ear. Many of the colorful words don't bear repeating, so suffice to say she was pretty mad.  
  
"You little keese! If you ever burst into my cabin again!" with that she slammed the door on my nose and wouldn't hear a word about Death Mountain. Eventually she came out on her own, and smiled as if nothing had happened.  
  
"Good morning. How'd you sleep?"  
  
At a lose for words at this treatment, I stared for a moment then murmured something approximating her words then told her I'd discovered Death Mountain. When I pointed it out, she immediately ordered the change of course and we were on our way.  
  
As I sat on the deck and waited, the little pirate walked by and stopped. He looked at me, chuckled, and walked on.  
  
"Like a sister, isn't she?" he called back.  
  
I pulled down my hat to cover my crimson face and croaked out. "Er, yeah, something like that."  
  
Zelda walked out as we reached the island, known by the charts as Dragon Roost Island and with my excitement faded, I found it hard to look at her, as if she could see through me and read my thoughts.  
  
We anchored quietly and four of us, two pirates, Zelda, and I went ashore and upon hitting the sand, I leapt out and turned back.  
  
"Stay here."  
  
I soared straight for the summit and landed before a huge red dragon in a bowl-like crater. There was no sign of any entry into the earth. The dragon let out a terrible roaring call and swept into the air. It soared for me and landed no more than a few feet away. I had unconsciously drawn both my swords. I couldn't help wondering if they would really do any good should the behemoth decide I looked like I'd be tasty with fried peasant.  
  
"Why has the Hero come to my mountain? What business do you have here, little firefly?" I knew the dragon wasn't using the usual tongue. The words he used were so ancient, so archaic; it seemed to be telling of history alongside the meaning of the words.  
  
-Valoo-  
  
I forced myself to meet that terrible gaze, and refused to let any show of weakness enter my own words, which seemed to hang in the air when they formed. "I will use this mountain to enter deep into the earth, and find the Gorons."  
  
"Ah, the Gorons. I came from their land. They lived above, then, however. I was sent up to drive the people to the mountains when the rain came. You wish for the Hammer, don't you, little firefly." I wondered if Zelda and the pirates could hear his words, so loudly they launched past me.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then I, and my Rito, will do what we can. But I warn you. Harm one feather on a Rito's back, and the moon will not be far enough for you to flit, little firefly."  
  
'Little Firefly' walked forward, past the dragon, and towards a banner on the smooth rock wall of the crater. I lifted the colorful flag and pressed my hand against the cool, bare stone.  
  
Instantly, my hand merged with it, and seemed to become stone itself. When I was able to pull my hand away, Valoo and I stood on the precipice, the maw, of a volcano. The chasm lead straight into the earth.  
  
"What have you done, emissary of evil? You have transfigured my mountain, and removed the halls of the Rito!" The dragon started towards me with fearsome anger and I drew back to explain.  
  
"They will be fine! When I come back, I will return all to as it was!"  
  
"I will be waiting, firefly."  
  
I took several steps back, and leapt into the pit, and went spiraling into darkness. I knew I couldn't fly for some time, because I couldn't be worn out at the bottom.  
  
The last I saw of the above was a dot of cobalt sky with Valoo still staring down after me.  
  
Chapter XXVI: Mako's Story  
  
-Fado  
  
I wasn't sure who threw the first stone. But when I heard my teacher's voice, I knew we were done at Dragon Roost.  
  
"These walls will not harbor you safely anymore. Leave, my pupil, and don't forget anything I taught you. Keep your cheery nature intact! Now fly!"  
  
"Let's get while it's good," Mako added.  
  
As warriors prepared to strike, we jumped to our feet and ran for the door. I pushed Mako and Holly through then turned for one last grandiose gesture.  
  
"The Wind Sage bids thee all farewell!" I sent a blast of wind through the chamber, then pulled back and slammed closed the heavy stone doors to the halls with a massive, resounding smash.  
  
Four warriors swept through the air around us in a blur as we raced down the walkway. I stopped and drew my sword, but Holly beat me to it.  
  
A puff of green smoke filled the air, and four wheels of cheese hit the ground. She began to point to each in turn.  
  
"Cheddar, Parm-"  
  
"No time!" I cried out, pushing her ahead, then reaching back to snatch Mako's sleeve, as he was reaching for Colby.  
  
"It wears off, Mako! You don't want to eat Rito!" Holly's words were all but drowned out by the wind as I pushed both of them towards the cliff.  
  
"Are you insane, Fado? We can't fly!" Holly cried out angrily.  
  
"I can."  
  
"Like I said, are you insane, Fad-ohwhoawhoawhoa! I like my feet on the grouuuund!"  
  
We left the island far behind as I used the wind to propel us through the air, Holly screaming constantly, Mako oddly quiet.  
  
Sparks of light eventually began to dance across my vision, and I landed on a small, triangular island with a creepy golden statue that we all found our eyes wandering towards for no seen reason.  
  
All thought of that soon passed away, however, because under Holly's questioning, Mako was at last revealing to us where he'd been and what he'd seen.  
  
Chapter XXVIII: The Unexpected  
  
-Medli  
  
I lunged forward, the Waker held tight. My fear momentarily forgotten, all I could feel was overwhelming, flooding rage at the woman that left me to the horrors of the Zora's domain.  
  
The strange boy tackled me from behind and I hit the floor, sending upward a blast of wind that tore the roof to shreds and scattered everyone. Laruto's scream cut the air like a burning knife and I screamed right too, her pain hanging in the air and becoming almost tangible.  
  
When everything had settled, I looked up to the boy standing triumphantly over me with the Waker pointed at my neck. "L-Laru-Laruto," I croaked out. "Heal her, please."  
  
"WHAT IS GOING ON, SHIEK?" WHO IS THIS RITO, WHY DID SHE ATTACK MY GUEST, AND WHY DID YOU BRING HER HERE?"  
  
The woman seemed awfully small to create so much noise, but she seemed none the worse for it. Her braided, black hair shook with every word, and her arms vibrated agitatedly.  
  
I stood up and nearly got knocked through the wall. Sheik brandished the wand angrily but the woman I guessed was his mother for their age difference calmed him and stepped forward and addressed me.  
  
"Why have you come here and attacked Jharmyne? What evil has she done you?"  
  
"She's my mother!" I wailed out, my rage lost amidst a sea of grief. "She left me to die! I thought I'd succumb to the disease at any second! Where have you been?" I finished, glaring at my mother.  
  
"You're father made everyone leave right away. We couldn't find you."  
  
"So you left me?!"  
  
"What choice did we have? We thought we were all about to die."  
  
"So much for courage," I muttered, knowing I might have done the same, and feeling all the more angry for it. "My friend needs help!" I said, pointing towards the stricken Zora and her contingent of bodyguards.  
  
The healer ran forward and knelt by her side. She felt her brow then ran off through the rubble, deeper into the house. She came back with a bottle of odd yellow liquid. When the cork popped, the rich aroma filled the room and invigorated me. After it passed Laruto's lips, she remained still, making me wonder it the potion worked. Suddenly, she jumped up and began to dance about the room, her usual brooding mood momentarily lost.  
  
She soon calmed down under the mixture of confused and angry stares glaring towards her from Jharmyne and the healer. Laruto began to speak. Her words told our story, all that had befallen us. The room seemed to freeze as she spoke, the very air leaning on her words. When she stopped, the room had descended into a deep quiet.  
  
The healer was the first to pull us up. "Well, two sages would certainly not go unused on Outset. This island, in case you hadn't noticed, isn't in the greatest shape. By the way, my name is Fala."  
  
Laruto opened her mouth and began to speak. "I wish to-" A high whistle followed by a booming blast cut her off. The bizarre meeting came to an end as we tumbled out the door. The streets were still crowded, but everyone's eyes were fixed on the sea. Fixed on the pirate ship attacking Outset. 


	9. Part 9

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XXIX: Kingdom Darkness  
  
-Mako  
  
You remember that night, don't you? The waves were thrashing all around us, Fado was up in the bow, playing his cello and convincing Holly and I he was a Deku nut. Don't forget we were still Koroks. After the boat fell apart, I was tossed about by the waves the entire night. When I awoke, I was still floating. I passed in and out of consciousness, every time I came to I saw different islands, different scenery.  
  
Eventually, I washed up on a rocky shore, and saw a deep, cloudless blue sky before I went under again.  
  
"Hey, Zelius! An onion washed up over here! Come look!"  
  
"Aye, it looks rather good, Cletus. Fresh and green leaved. Let's eat it."  
  
"Let's tell the boss first."  
  
"Let's eat it, and THEN tell the boss."  
  
"Sounds good. And tasty." I started awake to see two pig-like creatures standing over me. A voice in my head whispered they were Moblins.  
  
"Er. . .how do we eat it?" Zelius seemed unsure of the whole thing, and very uneasy.  
  
"Like this!"  
  
"FOOLS! IDIOTS! KEESE! What do you think you're doing?" I'd been roused from within such a deep sleep I hadn't realized I was resting halfway within Cletus's mouth.  
  
I felt a wave of despair hit me as Ganondorf in all his ill will came charging down the shore from a smallish tower on the other side of the island that I hadn't seen before. I'd never seen Ganondorf, but I didn't think it could be anyone else. Ganondorf started laying about with the flats of two swords, making the Moblins wince backward and drop me. Ganondorf picked me up and treated me with an ugly grin.  
  
"This little one is just the treasure I've been seeking."  
  
"Er. . .you like onions too, boss?" Zelius asked from somewhere behind us.  
  
"This is no onion, you towering measure of incompetence!"  
  
Tucked under the evil king's shoulder, I saw a bouncing view of the island. There didn't seem to be any others nearby. A desolate expanse of ocean and a half sunken ship were all I could see. The shadow of the tower reached forward and swallowed us up as we neared. It had seemed small from the shore, but while this wasn't completely inaccurate, it was much larger than I thought. Ugly purple stones that appeared somehow otherworldly were mortared together in a jagged, haphazard way that suggested the intelligence of its architect did not match with that of its builders.  
  
After passing through a door that opened on its own, we passed up a spiral stair, Zelius and Cletus grinning after me and making faces. The chamber we entered after all this easily shocked me to the point that I cried aloud.  
  
Raised a few feet from the floor were six cages of glass containing six skeletons. Rags of various colors decorated the ghostly bones, and a few still had hair of various colors. One looked like a fish's skeleton, and another somehow rocky, and three had to be Hylians, but it was the last, the one with green hair, which later caught my attention.  
  
Saria. The Kokiri Sage. One of the great heroes of forest lore. These were the six sages of legend.  
  
But at the time, I didn't notice. My eyes were drawn to the seventh, still living prisoner. Tubes connected the raised cages to each other, surrounding and plunging into another cage in a circular pattern, creating a sort of machine.  
  
Within an orb of solid crystal rested a Great Fairy. She looked a little smaller than most, and even more so for her tragic and sickly appearance.  
  
-Draema-  
  
When I was brought into the room in Ganon's arms, she smiled softly. Sympathetically. She was kneeling, her hair falling about her face in a curtain, divided to reveal her tearstained eyes.  
  
There are only so many things the Forest Folk can bear.  
  
Seeing a fairy, much less a great one, mistreated isn't one of them.  
  
Despite my lack of physical strength, I fought free, invigorated to the point of madness by my anger. I burst forward and pressed a hand against the glass. She put forth her own hand. I should have been able to see, to feel, the magic bursting from within Draema, but I felt nothing.  
  
Blinding pain seared like a knife wound as Ganondorf kicked me, launching me across the room and into a strange tapestry that broke my descent. I stared at the wall hanging for a moment, but I was whipped into the air by my arm before I could get a closer look.  
  
Draema leapt to her feet in rage. Ganondorf looked away from her burning gaze and found himself trapped in mine. His horrible, depthless eyes seemed to scream out to me about pain, deceit and hatred, but somehow I kept my gaze fixed, too stubborn to look away, too unsettled to do anything.  
  
"Do not think," Ganon whispered, holding me close to his head, "That I have lived so long by being a fool. I know what a danger allies together is to me. Say goodbye to your friend. You will not set eyes on her again until the ceremony.  
  
White-washed, surprisingly clean walls rose high above me. The shadow of prison bars stretched along the wall across from me, where the large oak door stood that kept me here. Loud screams came from the other side of the door. They reminded me of the Moblins I'd seen earlier, but were much more articulate in speech. I couldn't make out specific words through what seemed to be a foot of solid wood, however. An occasional clank also reached my ears. Eventually I realized the Moblins that had thrown him in had been too dumb to take away his spear.  
  
The shadow bars moved to the floor and vanished as I sat in that room, awaiting my fate. I wasn't fed. I wasn't given even a sip of water, and began to feel horribly ill without it. Worst of all, without you two, I began to feel terribly lonely. I walked to the door and began to yell.  
  
"Is anybody out there? I need water! Hey, Goron doof! Anybody ever tell you-"  
  
"Hey, whoever you are, quiet down." It was the eloquent Moblin. "I can help you. Just be patient."  
  
The sky was filled with stars before anything happened. Bars of moonlight had taken over the shift from the sun. The massive door burst in and the face of a skinny Moblin was illuminated by them. I ran across the room and out the door, just a second before he slammed it closed behind me, and found myself standing in a narrow hallway, torch lit and draped with shadows that veiled everything.  
  
The Moblin pair that had discovered me on the shore ran towards us, brandishing their javelins. A few seconds later, the dead bodies of Zelius and Cletus were bleeding onto the worn rug floor, and the Moblin was strapping their weapons to his back.  
  
Ganondorf came lurching down the hallway and the two were soon enmeshed in battle. The Moblin threw his spears up above his head and into the walls of the tight passage, and was suddenly battling from the air, leaping from pole to pole and countering Ganondorf's swords with a small knife he'd somehow procured.  
  
Whispering a prayer for the Moblin, I took off down the hall. I didn't have a clue where I was going. I only knew I had to find the fairy. The building was small enough that I eventually reached the building. The room was black as a night on the floor of the forest, no moon penetrating to the room. The only illumination came off a ghastly shine from the skeletons, filled with some secret power. Draema should have lit the room like a small sun, but her glow could only be seen when I crept close to the glass.  
  
"You must away, Mako," she whispered with a sore, but still vibrant voice, reminding me of the song in the voice of every fairy, making them so pleasant to hear. "The Evil One means terrible things for us. Worse than you can imagine."  
  
"I can go nowhere and swear never to leave you until you see your fountain again."  
  
She smiled and spoke kindly, "Do not bind yourself to an oath you cannot keep. It is. . .too late for this fairy."  
  
"How very true."  
  
I'd fully failed to hear Ganondorf's approach. A squad of Moblins came in as well and spread around the room, facing the apparatus.  
  
"It is time, little one. A shame you missed the death of one of the rare intelligent Moblins. I have to deal with one every once in awhile." I struggled and fought as he lifted me up, but I was far too small, possessing no strength except that of will. "Funny. Something so tiny, so frail, containing so much power." My arms were pushed into two of the tubes, and I was set down.  
  
Immediately, I dashed away, speeding towards the exit.  
  
"You can't escape this."  
  
I reached the edge of the tube's give and snapped back, landing face up with my head against Draema's cage.  
  
Ganondorf picked up two tubes as well, and gripping them with tight fists, thumbs inserted, he began to scowl and grimace strangely. The ever- tangible presence of his hatred pressed down the air and gave me a headache. A green vapor began to slink down the tubes, filling all seven prisons with its presence. As it began to float towards me, I screamed and backed away, filled with overwhelming dread.  
  
"No, please no!"  
  
The green smoke hit my arms and began flowing out of my mouth and eyes, filling the room and obscuring everything in mist.  
  
Ganondorf's laughter rang through the air. Draema was on her knees, coughing and crying. I struggled to think of something, anything, to break free and rescue her. I felt a sharp mental stab, and realized it had come from within. The harder I tried to think, the worse it became. It was like trying to juggle sword blades. I felt ripped apart. I could still see, hear, and feel, but thought was denied to me. The problem grew worse and worse, and my mind seemed to be full with a metal ball like a mace-end, spikes pushing me back as they grew and grew.  
  
When the haze had cleared, the room was empty save for living beings; the machinery and skeletons had vanished. Draema now had her face to the ground, the Great Fairy looking all but dead.  
  
This passed my eyes and burned onto to my memory, but every time I tried to consider it, my mind was wounded. Something was inside me now, something I couldn't touch.  
  
"Now that I have my vessel, we don't need her." The wizard nodded to the Moblins and two walked forward. One shoved his spear underneath her face and forced her into a kneeing position. Her head reeled back and the other used his weapon to hold it forward, forcing her into an execution pose while Ganon drew one of his swords. The Great Fairy said and did nothing.  
  
He pulled the weapon back. . .  
  
The sight sunk into my shredded being and I screamed, all the suppressed anger coming to blows with the foreign presence in my mind.  
  
"HALT!"  
  
I pressed past it all, feeling memories go blank, watching them vanish before my eyes.  
  
The three of us and Fillwir making the Great Deku Tree tell us stories.  
  
Gone.  
  
That time Holly tried to sew socks and stitched herself to the ground.  
  
Gone.  
  
Mido dying to save us all, making sure every last Kokiri made it safe to our new home.  
  
Gone, all gone. I lost my memories.  
  
But still, with a strength that could not have been my own, I brought Ganondorf to the ground. Draema stood up. Her vibrant spirit seemed to sing back into life, reminding me of the forest, with all its birdsong and insect voices crying out. For a moment, I felt as though grass were back beneath my feet, and the comforting presence of trees overhead. Home.  
  
The fairy leaned over to me and smiled what could only be called a Fado grin, and whispered.  
  
"Wind fair thee well, little one."  
  
The next second, I was vaulted through the air, the ruins of the tower smoking. Draema was dead. Though I knew Ganondorf was not defeated, she had stopped his evil plan. A tear slid down my cheek, but no more. I could not mourn. The sharpness was back. I landed in the water and was eventually found by Rito postmen.  
  
I finished my story with a sob choking my words. Fado, Holly and I knelt together in the grass of that strange island, and wept.  
  
Chapter XXX: Withdrawn  
  
-Nemos  
  
Hi.  
  
I've been asked to tell you a story. Which one do you want? I'm six thousand years old, after all. And fairies don't experience time the way others do. We see all parts of our lives at once, and live all of them constantly. But I can see I'm confusing you!  
  
Poor dear! I am sorry! I'll try to be plainer. It must be rough being so intellectually apathetic. There, there. I know where to start.  
  
My finest hour was perhaps when I led the town at Outset. Er, granted, I got a little out of control, and may have introduced poverty, disease, and overpopulation, but that's much more interesting than a little fisherman's village, eh?  
  
No?  
  
Oh, sorry. I was thinking the way I did back then. Oops! I was a vain little thing. Not anymore. Not without reason, anyway. Isn't my hair just gorgeous today? Try not to stare too much, dear.  
  
Anyways. Back then, a series of odd events began to occur. Three sages and several members of a race I thought extinct since the Rains. Dooko Sponges, I think they were called. They didn't look very spongy, though. More like clumpy bushes with big, horribly unattractive noses. One of the sages was a sponge, too.  
  
After an odd scuffle at the Healer's house that I didn't see, except for the destruction of a roof I thought particularly pretty, a pirate ship I'd been watching for some time arrived. My rage was inflamed after they destroyed a house. I grew so angry I physically left my fountain, something generally deadly to my people. Prolonged leave would eventually kill me.  
  
Shocked heads turned away from the shore and up at me as my glittering radiance challenged the sun. It wasn't before I'd gotten halfway that I realized I couldn't actually do anything. I floated high over-head, straight above the pirate ship, and bellowed out as loudly as I could.  
  
"LEAVE MY ISLAND AT ONCE, OR BE DESTROYED. I WILL NOT HESITATE TO HURT YOU OR MAKE YOU BLEED OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO SCARE YOU."  
  
The pirates trembled with fear but their captain, a tall, blond haired woman, screamed something to her men. They rallied together and somehow got a canon pointed straight. I was pegged in the stomach and retreated to my fountain to recoup.  
  
It was three days before I came out again. I was much surprised to find much of the city in ruin, only a scattered few were left, picking through the ashes for survivors, the pirate ship was drifting out towards sea, very low on the water. I went back into my fountain and never left again. 


	10. Part 10

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XXXI: The Graveyard  
  
-Link  
  
I fell for an eternity. I began to wonder if I'd done the right thing, or something totally insane. My previous assurances had abandoned me. After a time an odd feeling suddenly washed over me. I'd gotten used to falling, but now I felt the dizzy, draining rush of one about to hit the ground.  
  
Hit the ground!  
  
I began to fly just in time, a boot hitting earth as I went up. I looped through the air and landed on the ground. As much as I'd gotten used to being in the air, it still felt good to feel soil beneath me feet. Darkness had been my companion throughout the trip down, and it stayed with me still. I couldn't see a thing. For all I knew, the area around me could go for miles, or end within an inch of my outstretched hand.  
  
For some reason a small thought of Zelda passed through my mind as I stood there. I still couldn't keep my thoughts from wondering towards her, and hoped she was okay. I wished I could see her. A little glimpse of her face would have eased my heart instantly.  
  
I shook my head. Focus.  
  
I took quick stock of my things. Hat, tunic, boots, swords, boomerang, bow and quiver with no arrows, and a bottle of soup. Nothing to start a fire, or any kind of light.  
  
Except. . .  
  
In the darkness, bring the light.  
  
I'd left out the Triforce. A very slight glow was coming from the pattern on my hand. I had to make it bigger. I concentrated on making the tiny shreds of light grow. I pictured a glow filling the entire area. With stunning speed, brightness covered every corner of the massive cavern.  
  
Stone pillars stretched from floor to ceiling, growing from top to bottom and meeting. I could just barely make out the hole I'd sunk from. To the right the cavern kept going, twisting and rising here and there until it narrowed into a tunnel, and to the left I could see what looked like the ruins of a city crowned by a windmill. No lava. That I couldn't figure out. Wasn't I at the base of a volcano? Perhaps the changes I'd caused had rearranged more than I thought. Or the Gorons were a great deal more advanced than I thought.  
  
Ahead was a wall that curved towards the ruins and the tunnel. I turned, wondering where to begin my search. My question was soon answered.  
  
A door as high as Zelda's ship, mast included, greeted me. The surface was covered with pictures and runes carved from ancient rock. It looked as if it hadn't been moved in centuries.  
  
Curious, I began to move forward, when a scuffling noise met my ears. I turned, and saw something moving in the wrecked city. Shadows flitted here and there, sometimes stopping to stare, all seemingly afraid of the sudden light. Again my curiosity took hold, but this time I moved towards the buildings. The light was dimming fast, making it difficult to see.  
  
As I reached the outskirts of the ruined village, I heard a loud rustling coming from a nearby pile of rubble and a creature leapt from behind it with a wordless cry. I struck the unyielding ground before I could draw a sword and was instantly struggling against an invisible presence. I took off flying into the air, taking him with me, soaring high and spinning in loops. He fell off and landed far below with a sickening crunch.  
  
I landed and inspected the body. Skin as pale as milk, a young boy of about ten had attacked me. He was obviously Hylian, but his too-wide eyes and colorless flesh established him as very different.  
  
And I'd killed him.  
  
For all the battling I'd done, for all I'd been through, I'd never killed another Hylian before. I'd acted rashly, without thinking, and now he'd paid the price. The fact that I'd been attacked was no excuse. I could have done things differently. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I knelt and pulled his eyes closed.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
That was it for the unknown casualty of my error. I couldn't dwell on anything for too long, much less this.  
  
I looked deeper into the city and saw more shadows. The darkness was growing. I had to strain to see the great door. The Gorons had to be past it. I once again began to walk towards it.  
  
Before I knew it, I was bound and being carried towards the windmill. I was tied to a stick by my hands and feet and being carried by two men who looked like the one I'd killed, and surrounded by dozens more. Each man took a sword. Everything else I still had but the freedom to use them was gone.  
  
By now the light had faded entirely, the only light coming from the occasional torch as we passed by the ruinous buildings. Gleaming eyes and hateful glances met me every few windows. No mercy would be received here.  
  
Eventually we reached the windmill and I was carried straight through a door into a large chamber of simple stone with a rotting wood floor. Only the two men came in. The rest waited outside. I was dumped without ceremony before an oddly dressed man of about thirty. He carried an ancient, rust pitted metal box like the grinder that lived on Roc's Island carried, but this man's looked as if it were centuries old, ready to fall apart at the slightest provocation.  
  
"Who's this you've brought me, Griman? Lalalalala?" He said that at the end of every sentence. I'm pretty sure he was insane. I also figured he had to be the one in charge.  
  
"A murderer. He killed Rost," the man in front, Griman responded with vehemence.  
  
"What say you, swordsman? Lalalalala?" his musical voice seemed trusting, kind.  
  
"I didn't mean too! He attacked me! I'm sorry!"  
  
"Liar!" The man behind me shouted. "I saw it all. As soon as he laid eyes on Rost, he began to hack at him for no good reason!"  
  
"But. . . Trisyrt. Lalalalala." the leader seemed to be weighing everyone's words.  
  
"You must punish him!" Griman cried.  
  
The leader crumbled visibly. A terrible look of sadness crossed his face. "Very well," he said quietly. "Take him to the graveyard. Lalalalala"  
  
With that, Griman and Trisyrt lifted me into the air and carried me out the door and back to the waiting crowd.  
  
"To the graveyard!" Griman cried out. The entire mob burst into cheers, and we soon stood before a massive, wrought iron gate.  
  
The rust reddened gate squeaked open and I was carried through rows of tombstones. Some of them bore ancient insignia of the Triforce, and looked as if a talented stonecutter had designed them. But these were very old, with crumbling stones and forgotten, unreadable names. The rest were simple blocks of rough-hewn rock, with a Triforce and names scratched in.  
  
At the back, towards an edge of the seemingly depthless cavern, an open hole awaited. Perfectly square, and with an unmarked tombstone, there could be no mistaking what they intended for. A coffin was brought out, and with great show, I was forced inside. As soon as they began to close the premature tomb, I started screaming. Wordless objections and pleas passed my lips, ending with one coherent word.  
  
-"Zelda!"-  
  
Three minutes later, I was six feet under. Dirt began to bang the lid. It grew quieter and quieter as time passed. Eventually my throat grew hoarse, too much so to scream. Not that anyone could here me.  
  
I'd been buried alive.  
  
Chapter XXXII: The Dream Begins  
  
-Fado  
  
Everything was strange, unfamiliar. I walked with eight others in a spread out crowd. I could see a forest in Autumnal death behind us, and the gates of a walled city just ahead. The eight were of mixed races, Three I picked out instantly. Forest folk. A Kokiri girl with long green hair, a short Deku Scrub with a few red leaves, and a Skull Kid with two fairies. Now that I looked I saw that there were five of them in the party. Including one that seemed to be mine, though I didn't see how that was possible.  
  
I felt wrong, different somehow in a way I couldn't explain. I held up a hand and stared at it. It wasn't my hand. What was going on? Where was the scar I'd gotten on my palm stick fighting with Mako three summers ago? To that, where were Mako and Holly? I'd gone to sleep on that tiny island, huddled with my three friends for warmth.  
  
When a breeze sent a lock of brown hair fluttering over my eyes, I reached for my sword and was surprised to see it in the familiar place. Gazing into it, Mido's face stared back. A little younger, a little more proud, a little less scared, less worried, but this was Mido's body. I knew very well the stories, how he'd accompanied Link and twelve others into the Sacred Realm to claim Ganondorf's Triforce of Power and purge a different evil from Hyrule, and realized that for some reason I was living out part of that quest.  
  
"You're not going to get any less ugly if you keep staring at yourself," the Skull Kid quipped, bringing me back to reality and to the realization I'd slowed to almost stopping. In a strange world, on a strange quest, surrounded by strangers whose names I wouldn't be able to use, I decided to observe as much as possible until this bizarre dream was over.  
  
It didn't feel like a dream. The path we walked on, the overcast gray sky, cloud shielded sun, the waving green grass, and the trees that reminded me of home and sent terrible pangs of homesickness through me. No faded edges, no sense of being imaginary, I could smell bread being baked somewhere in the city we were now very close too.  
  
I looked back at the trees and stopped. Home. I missed it so badly my breath caught. I longed for the merry days spent in the forest working and playing with my friends.  
  
But they were gone. I wasn't going home again. Somehow I knew that. Remembering Mido's sharp, ever aware personality, I realized I needed to keep up before the others thought I was Deku Nut.  
  
We reached the opening to the simple wooden walls, high enough to give it a fortress like quality. A few buildings and a very large tower stretched high into the air. A wooden sign stretched in an arc over the open doors. The city's name was painted over with thick black lettering. Without thinking, I read the words aloud.  
  
"Once the jewel of the Realm, now the saturnine city. May all who pass these gates suffer."  
  
"Nice." One of the men muttered, and I realized I'd forgotten to study the rest of the group, which included two Hylian men, one woman, a Goron, and a Zora. It was then that I realized one of the men, the one that hadn't spoken, was Link Hero of Time. The remainder of the group were fairies. Five, I eventually counted, including one of my own.  
  
Suddenly a voice whispered in my ear. "What have you done with Mido?" I realized it was she, my fairy. The round, silver-green being was hovering so close I could make out her face. "What've you done?" she repeated. "I know you're not him."  
  
"I'm. . ." I thought for a moment. What could I say? "A friend."  
  
"Whatever. So long as he's coming back," she muttered, and never spoke to me again. Within the city, it seemed as though everyone were staring at us. Guards stood on the high walls and glared down. Mothers' penetrating gaze followed us through windows. Where was happiness? Not one show of joy, other than my own amused smile, was ever shown.  
  
After walking down dusty, high-walled streets, we reached a small, grassy clearing and everyone sat to rest. Except Link and the other Hylian man. They both walked off as soon as we got there. While the others set up an impromptu camp, I wondered into the street, gazing at the tall brick buildings and rotting wooden houses. Why was I here? I knew this kind of thing would only happen to a sage for a reason.  
  
I walked past a narrow alleyway and heard clanking and rustling pulsing through the unsettling quiet of the city. A swift dash around the corner brought me face to face with a little girl. She was about my height, which meant she was still young by Hylian standards. A child.  
  
"Do'unt 'urt me, man. Do'unt tella Ganonderf I'ma bad ked, oki?" I grinned broadly at the dark haired girl and asked her where she lived. She pointed to the alley behind us. Righta 'ere, nice weirdy boy."  
  
"Would you like to come with me, and get some food?" She agreed and we began to walk back, playing and laughing the whole way. We took turns leaping around corners at people we met on the way back, but when a scowling man drew a knife on us and made Alley (what I called her as she had no name to speak of) cry, I decided we should stop. I knew the scowler would agree wholeheartedly when he came to.  
  
But we would never reach the camp. As night fell, I heard the heavy sound of marching footsteps growing closer and closer.  
  
"Mobli's." Alley ducked fearfully behind me and I caught sight of a Moblin for the first time. Massive walls of flesh topped by piggish faces, each carried a spear and a torch that cast hundreds of hellish shadows. "Wha'll we do, Faydo?"  
  
Alley and I ducked into an abandoned store just in time. Crouching and peering through the shattered glass of a window long broken, we watched the Moblins stomp into the city. This was what Ganondorf's rule meant. Pain, suffering, death. I gave Alley an assuring smile but it felt weak even to me. This was the kind of thing she had to live with constantly. My quest had to continue. Whatever sorrow I'd felt, no matter how strong my homesickness became, I had to keep going.  
  
Everything began to fade and swirl together. The last thing I saw was a trio of Moblins bursting in as everything went dark. . .  
  
A wonderful smell washed over me. I was being held by both arms, dragged through soft grass. The faded image of the dream was still with me, behind closed lids. I risked an open eye and was surprised but unspeakably joyous when I saw trees above me. Mako and Holly were on either side of me, dragging me along.  
  
"Wha. . ." my voice came out in a thirsty croak and I stopped. My friends, relieved, stopped. "What has happened?" I demanded.  
  
"You didn't wake up," Holly said wearily. "We couldn't go on without you." So it was unbelievable, but true.  
  
We were back home.  
  
Chapter XXXIII: The Army of Outset  
  
-Laruto  
  
Things were going better than I'd planned. After the shock of Nemos's verbal assault and hasty retreat, I'd called everyone to a safe point high on the mountain. I stood on the pillar of a bridge, one so recently constructed it still smelled of freshly cut wood. Medli stood on the other, wind whipping the timid girl's feathers. The Deku stood below us, between the columns. The villagers, all that had survived the first cannonade, spread before us.  
  
"People of Outset!" I cried, raising my voice above the wind, refusing to let my words be swept to sea. "Your homes have been ravaged! Your lives have been threatened! In times of trouble, the sages have come to the people's aid. That time is now! Listen to me, and I will lead you against the enemy!"  
  
The people seemed cowed into silence. No protest. Surprising that no political ambitions stirred. I'd been told Nemos had tried her hand at ruling, and with her defeated, they were without leadership.  
  
"What will we do?" someone asked, then I realized it was the boy, Shiek.  
  
"We will stand! The pirates will fall in three days if you do as I say, I promise you!"  
  
After that, everything became a blur, as everyone marched down to the town and spread out, scouts collecting weapons and supplies, the rest creating barriers, trenches, and a central base of operations on the mountain, where I could view everything. I told the Deku to be ready to fight, but Gris insisted on two, Cufell and Knoll, remaining at my side. Burt wound up with the other children, on the far side of the bridge. Medli was assigned to do messenger work, and Fala to be ready with soup.  
  
I sought out Medli as soon as possible. She looked agitated, nervous over the coming war. "Medli, about what I said. . ."  
  
"What?" she said sharply, "About my weakness? We both know it's true, now don't we?"  
  
"No, it's not. You've proven yourself over and over again. It doesn't matter that you fear. That's part of life. You faced it. You're not weak. You're all the braver for feeling so much fear, and facing it down when you need it. I. . .I'm glad you're with me. I know I'd have gotten nowhere without you."  
  
"Th-Thank you. I. . ." she took a step back, then turned and ran.  
  
I went back to planning. Something wasn't right. Where were the pirates? Why attack if not for loot? And why had the cannons stopped? It unsettled me, but I shook it off. I had to be prepared for anything. Finally when everything was prepared I stood on a rooftop to give the first orders.  
  
The Army of Outset was ready for battle, but was I? 


	11. Part 11

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XXXIII: Claustrophobia  
  
-Link  
  
I had to be out, -now-!  
  
The walls of my coffin were tightening, pushing in on me. With every exhale that puffed into the cold air, a little of my life breathed out with it. I fought down the surging panic that struggled upward, making me want to kick, scream, whatever it took to be free or die. But those feelings were useless. I pushed the dread away and forced myself to think calmly.  
  
I decided to break the lid. I'd worry about the six feet of dirt when I got to it. And claw my way if I had to. There was too much riding on my life for me to give in an inch.  
  
But how to tear free? I wasn't sure I could control the power level of the Triforce. Remembering what I'd done to the face of the Helmacron King, I knew I could just as easily kill myself.  
  
Then I had it.  
  
I pulled out the boomerang and launched it at the closer of the coffin lid's two hinges. Pressing myself as deep into the soft satin that was impossible to find comforting, I sent it at the hinge over and over again until finally the metal folds snapped.  
  
"Huzzah-OW!" My joy was cut short when I lost control of the weapon and it flew into my nose with a horrible crunch. Dead tired, out of air, and with blood gushing everywhere, now seemed as good a time as any for some of the strange soup I'd been given.  
  
As I sipped at the soup, I began to laugh. I was trapped miles underground in a coffin, probably about to die, and I'd stopped for a lunch break.  
  
Out of air. . .  
  
My laughter grew strained, then finally choked and died, but despite it all, thanks to the soup, I felt GREAT. Dried blood was on my clothes, but my nose felt peachy again.  
  
What had I been doing? Something about the boomerang? I was going to dip it in soup and eat it? No, no. I was going to. . .free myself! I had to be free! My addled mind felt the closing in, the narrowing, worse than ever now. I felt further exposed, further weakened. I pulled out the boomerang with the last of my strength and snapped the final hinge.  
  
Naturally, it did no real good. I had to risk the Triforce. Before I got the chance, the ground swung away from under me.  
As the bottom of the broken casket fell out from under, I flew between the top and bottom and sucked in grand, precious, wonderful, marvelous, beautiful, lovely air (Go strangle yourself for awhile and you'll get the idea). As my muddled brain revived, I saw that I was floating in large, bare dirt chamber, filled with dozens of odd, shuffling zombies, all of whom were armed with shovels and strange wooden contraptions.  
  
-ReDeads-  
  
"Hey! You're still alive!" A girl of about eleven was standing before me. She looked the same as all the other Hylians down here, but she was covered with dirt and skeletally thin. She wiped a hand absently on her ragged dress.  
  
"Thanks for letting me know," I muttered, wondering what to do.  
  
"You should be dead! Dampe didn't prepare me for this! Do me a favor and do yourself in, would you?"  
  
"Er. . .maybe some other time. Could you take me to the exit?"  
  
"Exit! I have deliveries to make! ReDead, attack!"  
  
"With the crossbows!" she added when they pointed their shovels at me and shuffled a finger as if pulling a nonexistent trigger.  
  
"So you wanna fight?" I said, adrenaline pumping, a grin playing at my face.  
  
"You can't fight! You're unarmed! It's not fair!" she stamped her foot down, sending dust into the air.  
  
"Yeah, to me. You've obviously never fought a Hero before," I added, still smiling. Starring at the 'crossbows' I pulled out my bow.  
  
In battle, the ReDead weren't as pathetic as they looked. I flipped into the air as crossbow bolts filled the air, and leapt against a wall, the world tilting with me as I left gravity behind. I swooped up a few of the bolts that stuck in the wall around me and began firing them, pushing a hand into the dirt then pressing in on the string of my bow and pulling back.  
  
Success! The arrow thudded into the chest of a ReDead. . . and had no effect at all. The girl laughed and more wooden rain fell from that side of the room. I stumbled over the coffin and lifted the lid as a shield.  
  
Eventually, the storm ceased and I peaked over the edge. It was a solid mass of arrows, the pale wood no longer visible on the side.  
  
"With the shovels! Go, my creatures! Let's see some brain matter ooze!"  
I dodged around a shovel swing in midair and drove my sword deep into the chest of the nearest ReDead. Or tried to, which was as far as I got with no sword. I pulled out my bow and began firing point blank until the string snapped. Arrows grew from its face, but it stumbled on. Soon I was surrounded and dragged to the floor. A sea of brownish red tightened to suffocate. . .  
  
-In the darkness, bring the light.-  
  
I had only one trick left. As ReDead began to pile on top of me, always reaching, screaming, moaning, pulling at me. I pushed my right arm forward. The girl gasped as light shone from my arm. A blast of pure energy sent ReDead flying through the air. As burnt bodies fell about us, she took off running down a tiny side passage. I took to the air and gave chase.  
  
Deeper into the darkness.  
  
Chapter XXXIV: Shattered Joy  
  
-Fado  
  
I wasn't sure whether to be happy or disappointed. I was back! The one thing I'd never thought I'd have again. Home. But I'd failed. Mako and Holly still stood by my side, holding me up. I didn't feel like I'd slept so long. With a nod and a smile to my two friends, I stood on my own. We stood for a moment, unsure what to do. When I looked back at the two, they were Koroks again.  
  
"The Great Deku Tree wishes to see you." A small Korok named Deya walked up and glared hatefully at me. Her red leaf almost shook with the prim Korok's disgust. Vaguely I remembered one night a long, long time ago, helping her gather her things as we crossed over to this island.  
  
--"What makes you so cheerful?" she asked, looking up from her knees, belongings scattered everywhere.  
  
"What's the alternative?" I returned with a grin. It's no use going through life letting everything upset you. Relax, and let things come as they will. Worry'll only get you gray hair."  
  
"Kokiri don't age," she said, laughing.  
  
"Sure they do! I could swear I've grown an inch in the last ten years."--  
  
I smiled at the memory, but that Deya was gone. Her next words proved that. "What are smiling at, you Deku Nut? Are you going to say something, you moron?  
  
"Great," I finally responded. "I need to see him too. Let's go."  
  
"You will see the Great Deku Tree when he deigns to admit you. For now, you will wait."  
  
Mako and Holly led me to a corner of the forest and we sat in silence. I lay back and grinned at the feel of the grass on my arms and neck, staring at a tiny sliver of starry sky through the trees, a sight I'd seen many times. But it was all with the faint tinge of the worry I usually managed to keep far off.  
  
What could ever make the Deku Tree make me wait for an audience?  
  
"He must be angrier than he's ever been." It wasn't until Mako responded that I realized I'd spoken aloud. I sat up and looked around. There were Koroks everywhere, watching us. Glaring. I could feel the hatred, the way I'd felt it from Ganondorf.  
  
"I never expected this. I don't know what to do," I said, glad I had these two, who would never abandon me. Or hate me.  
  
"Try to apologize," Holly said. Eager at the chance to break something down. And to tell someone what to do. "Be humble, but make sure you get us a boat. We have to carry on."  
  
Before I could respond, Deya came back. "The Great Deku Tree will see you now."  
  
I smiled cheerfully and followed. She swerved on me. "What wrong with you, you grinning lout? Don't you understand what you've done? You'll find out soon." Her curt mannerism faltered as she walked on. "I-I've never seen him like this," she whispered.  
  
Nothing could have prepared me. Nothing. No strength of will, or cheery disposition, it was beyond me to resist.  
  
"YOU UTTER FAILURE. YOU PATHETIC, DISGUSTING, WORTHLESS FOOL!" The Great Deku Tree wailed and roared out at me, a storm of words sending me crashing to my knees. "I'LL TEAR YOU APART, YOU MINDLESS FILTH!" Suddenly he spoke in a whisper. "The grinning idiot has returned, all now laugh at his stupidity."  
  
And that's just what they did. A low, horrible chuckle overtook the forest as Koroks began to laugh and mock me. All but two. The Great Deku Tree began the hurricane again, spewing out everything he knew about me, in a torn twisted way. Every shame, every mistake, every failure. Nothing good. All that was good in my life was shoved in the corner. And the Koroks laughed, howling with it, shaking, falling out of trees.  
  
On and on it went. Finally I managed to croak out a single word.  
  
". . .Why?"  
  
"YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW? How like you. Now to make sure you understand just what you did. Ganondorf has succeeded in breaking the Master Sword. In just a few short years, all the world will be blanketed by his darkness!"  
  
I refused to be crushed so easily. I felt broken open by this outpouring of pure hatred, but I couldn't give in. "Please. Just give me another chance. I will defeat him."  
  
"Defeat him? You? You sickening scum. You keese, you moblin. You friend of evil. Of Ganondorf. Go hand him your sword why don't you? We know he already owns it."  
  
"I would never betray my frie-"  
  
"YOU ALREADY HAVE!" I fell backward as the Great Deku Tree began to turn black with anger. Dark patches stretched across his bark, and his body began to swell strangely. "YOU'VE KILLED US ALL, YOU'VE ENDED FREEDOM. ENJOY YOUR SLAVERY." Then as a parting shot, "WELCOME HOME."  
  
With that, The Great Deku Tree exploded. Massive chunks of wood went soaring into the air and fell as dust. Koroks became piles of ash. Even my friends. They were gone. Even they, my last reserve, my last place to turn. There was nothing left. I was shattered joy.  
  
I looked up at the sky, the trees, listened to the distant sound of waves. "Take good care of it, Ganondorf," I whispred, drawing my sword and driving it into my heart.  
  
Chapter XXXV: Into the Sky  
  
-Medli  
  
I crouched low and glanced around the corner. The fading sun set everything in strange colors. The canon fire had finally stopped. Every charge and maneuver had failed. The ship seemed to never run out of ammunitions. Shiek, two Scrubs, and a friend of Shiek's named Sasuke awaited my word. We were on orders now to get as close as possible and look for a means of bringing the pirates' ship down. Already, after just a day and half of fighting, much of the city was a smoldering ruin.  
  
"Quickly, quietly," I whispered, choking down on my fear and gave the signal to move around the corner, down the cobblestone street to the next safe point. As we moved a voice cried out.  
  
"Villagers, HO!" A burst of thunder sent the nearest house into a shower of massive splinters. We were sideswiped by the debris and pushed into a dank alley.  
  
"Oh, no. No, no, no." A massive shard of wood seemed to be growing from Troll, one of the Deku. Her brother Mel was leaning over her side, whispering over and over again. He reached out and pressed hand to her face, and suddenly a glow came out of his palm.  
  
I wiped grimy sweat off my forehead and leaned forward. A faint shadow of a strange terror hung over him. "What are you doing to her?" I asked.  
  
"I'm absorbing her consc-" Another blast rocked the area cutting off his words. They knew where we were. My breathing quickened. We could die at any moment. It was some time before I could think, but I had to do something fast.  
  
"I have a plan. I'm sorry, Mel, but we need your sister's body. Is it okay-"  
  
"She won't mind. In fact, if it will save us, she expects us to."  
  
I nodded. "Shiek. Sent her out into the street with a blast of wind. When they begin focusing on her, everyone slip down to the beach, to close for them to hit.  
  
A breeze brushed my feathers and before I knew it we were scrambling for the sand, more explosions rushing around us. I stopped, grasping for air, right near the edge of the ship. They were docked right on the sand. Strange, but definitely good for us. Shiek and Mel were soon standing at my side, but Sasuke was nowhere to be found. I looked up at the ship and was surprised to see him sneaking up the side on a rope ladder.  
  
"Is he insane?" I whispered, fear knotting and quieting my voice.  
  
"No," Shiek responded, "If that female pirate bossing them around is killed, the rest might give in. Let's follow him."  
  
I took a glance up at the mountain where Laruto was planning her next move. I gasped when I saw the remnant of the villagers massing together. "What's she planning?" I whispered.  
  
"Medli! Make a decision!" Shiek whispered fiercely. "Sasuke needs our help."  
  
"You're right. After him."  
  
After climbing the ladder, I cast around uneasily, expecting a pirate to call out and for us to be captured and executed. The boy was nowhere to be found. Shiek and Mel were glancing about to. I guessed all the pirates save the lookout were down in the canon chambers. I nodded to the two and we dashed for the doorway to the lower decks.  
  
Suddenly the door swung open and we found ourselves face to face with the girl pirate.  
  
But. . .  
  
She was a little girl! Just a bit younger than Laruto and I. Certainly not the woman we'd seen raging and prowling about. Not the woman who's terrible voice could spread over much of the island when she wished it.  
  
"W-who are you?" a soft voice spoke fully, but quietly, almost a murmur. She flicked a strand of brilliant blond hair out of her face. Hair the same color as Shiek's.  
  
Frozen, I failed to respond. Shiek looked at me then spoke up. "We're here to end this fighting."  
  
Oddly enough, the girl sighed with relief. "Thank goodness. Let me know what I can do to help. My mother, she's. . . be careful. So careful. -She's not like the others-. I. . ."  
  
"What's going on up there! A clawing voice that sent a quaking tremble up my spine emerged from somewhere below. I was casting about for a place to hide when a hoarse battlecry echoed upward. Sasuke and the horrible woman flew onto the deck, swords flashing.  
  
The ship began to shake, and the woman laughed. "You've done it now! Activated the defensive magic I shielded myself with!"  
  
A massive spray of water washed the deck as the vessel flew straight into the air, and up into the stars, pressing us into the deck as we left Outset far, far below. 


	12. Part 12

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XXXVII: Matters of Choice  
  
-Zelda  
  
Round again I went, pacing still. Practically a hole was worn in the old boards of my cabin, but what else was there to do? Pour over charts? I had any possible routes charted. Take care of Tetra? Napping. The crew? Napping.  
  
So I was bored. And anxious. Wondering how long it would take Link to complete his quest. I'd felt strangely about him ever since our talk the night before. A little light-headed whenever I thought of him. I didn't understand why he would want to break his source of power, but I knew there had to be a reason. I was about to go get the crew up when a faint voice called to me.  
  
"Zelda!" It was Link. I'd barely been able to hear it, but there was no mistaking the urgency. I quickly strapped on my sword-belt and ran out the door.  
  
Without speaking a word, I pushed an explanatory note into the hands of the current lookout, jumped into a rowboat, and was soon climbing the mountain. In the rain. A heavy, cool shower began to fall blanketing the world in a shroud, as if he ocean were trying to fly into the air.  
  
It was slow going, but I eventually stood before the dragon that had to be Valoo. He glowered over me, the behemoth taking a deep breath, the sound and smell of fire filling my head.  
  
"Link needs me! Help out or stand aside, you bloated overgrown newt!" I glowered right back, awaiting his decision. It wasn't as if I could really defeat him in battle.  
  
He began to laugh. "You don't carry as much power as the firefly, but you certainly carry more force of word, little dragonfly. I will take you to the lower realms."  
  
With that he lowered his neck. I blew a long strand of hair aside and leapt onto red scales, just behind his head. The watery air seemed to move aside for the dragon. Not a single drop touched me as he spiraled upward, then with a cry of "Hold fast!" he was rocket! Downward we went, straight into the depths of the earth.  
  
I felt every hair straining to be free, whipping out behind me. When we finally stopped, it fell over me face like a curtain, not that it mattered, as I was in complete darkness anyway.  
  
"Keese. It's dark down here. How do we find our way?"  
  
A gentle intake of breath was my answer. For one second I saw a sliver of the immense cavern. High stone pillars, an ornate door, a ruined city. I thought I saw something move atop a building, but I couldn't be sure.  
  
"What is this place?" I whispered, my voice seeming to swallowed up by the immensity of it all. I was almost surprised when Valoo answered.  
  
"This is a shard of Hyrule, a Remnant of Old. Lost in the flood. The Hero rearranged things a bit when he opened the way, but only the flow of lava to the volcano above, and the opening tunnel. Everything else is as it should be. The Gorons did much. Beyond that door they live, but it has not been disturbed. I wonder-"  
  
A massive rumble launched me head over heals. I screamed involuntarily as I was knocked down by a massive gust of wind. When the shock faded, I stood, bruised but unhurt and looked around. I was blind. Valoo was gone.  
  
I pulled from around my neck the Triforce shard that had been passed down to me by my mother. The room was just lit up enough that I could see the ceiling. The hole had closed, and Valoo had seen it happening and abandoned me. Wherever Link was, he and I were trapped.  
  
-Link  
  
Driven into the ground, I landed, unable to fly. I'd already been following the girl through a tunnel for several minutes, and a few more found me in a wider opening, lit by a river of lava flowing through. The lava created a dead end. The whole area was just a slanting bank leading into it. There was nowhere to go but past me or into the flow.  
  
A horrified gasp escaped my lips as I heard a splash and saw through the dim light a figure sinking in. Burning flames licked over it, seeking to stretch itself over her and bring her in, but they failed. She wasn't burning. Who was this strange girl, who commanded the dead, who robbed graves, who swam through fire?  
  
Did it matter? I had a quest already. She meant nothing to it. An image of the door and its carvings flashed through my mind. That was where I had to go. I turned, and began to head back, already trying to figure a plan to escape these underground passageways.  
  
Then the world flipped over. The earth shook, knocking me clean off my feet and backwards, rolling down the bank and straight into the lava.  
  
A golden orb surrounded me as I hit. I'd protected myself by reflex. I soon realized I had no control. As I sank, I was swept into the current, whipped along with an ocean of red all around me.  
  
I couldn't see anything else. I couldn't feel anything but heat. The shield didn't protect me from the lava. Not completely. I could still feel it, like a warm, smothering bath.  
I found myself pulled out of the frying pan and into the fire. I had no air. I felt a faint upward tug above me, and concentrated my sight upward. The lava grew strangely clear and I saw a passage leading straight up, back into the world I knew.  
  
I had to make a choice. Go back defeated, or face death and find my way down here?  
  
Then I realized there was no choice. I could only do what was best for my people. The War-Hammer had to be obtained.  
  
I pushed downward with all my strength. Struggled to swim towards what looked like lights at the bottom of my red-tinged sight.  
  
I pushed and pushed, and still it grew warmer, and the strangeness of suffocation came over me again. Black spots dotting and dancing across my vision. They began to grow, and my barrier began to shrink away.  
  
I looked out through eyes that were almost blind and saw a strange sight. Mushrooms that shone. A light emitted from a ten-foot mushroom that rested right before my vision. I had no more strength. The rushing water began to turn back into lava. The clarity of sight faded with my eyesight. I reached out a hand, pressing all my remaining power into the mushroom without knowing why.  
  
Then darkness came.  
  
"Bring doctors! Hurry! This man is still alive!"  
  
I looked up into the eyes of the girl that had been trying to kill me and started, drawing back. She hissed and drew a crossbow.  
  
"Don't move! I'll shoot."  
  
"Fat lot of good that did you last time," I muttered. Or tried to. Nothing but a groan escaped my lips. Then I looked down. Then I realized why I could barely move. Why I hadn't felt anything when I moved. I was covered with horrible burns from head to toe.  
  
Three men came forward, one walking in front brandishing a simple wooden bucket.  
  
I croaked, trying to speak. "Help me."  
  
"Eh. He's just burnt. Hmmm. Down to the nerves. I thought it was something serious. What're you whining on about help for?" the other two men grunted in agreement, obviously subordinate to the tall, hawk-nosed man doing the talking.  
  
"But he looks terrible!" The girl interjected. "Aren't you going to use that water?"  
  
The man gasped. "Of course! Terribly sorry. He poured the water out, soaking me completely. I expected blasting pain, but instead I felt nothing but feeling. I was completely healed.  
  
I stood up and looked around. A small city was built into a rock wall, dotted with massive, dull red mushrooms like the one I'd seen outside. Apparently I'd been looking in. The lava was kept back by what looked like a glass wall.  
  
I had no idea what to say. "How. . .thank you. . .where. . ."  
  
The lead doctor looked at the girl. "Fill him in." he said, and immediately walked off.  
  
"I don't want filled in!" I called after him. "I want to return to the surface."  
  
"Don't bother with that sort of hope. We can't allow you to leave. We can't let the others find out about us. I assure you, you will never see your home again."  
  
Chapter XXXVIII: Unto the Last  
  
-Fado  
  
"Din, Nayru, and Fayore!" I screamed as I came awake. I could still feel it. The sword inside me, growing out of me. For one single, unending second, the pain had torn and chewed at me. Or had it? I couldn't remember feeling actual pain. But there had to have been pain. I'd been stabbed.  
  
I was back on the island at last. Mako and Holly were on the other side of the golden statue. Hugging each other.  
  
"Something wrong?" Mako asked. I smiled when I saw him. Then I turned and smiled at Holly. They'd stood with me, even when the Great Deku Tree had been ripping me apart.  
  
No.  
  
That had been a dream.  
  
I felt strangely light as I stood up. "You won't believe it. I just had the mother of all night- Why are you staring at me like that?" Both Kokiri were just glaring. They stood holding hands tightly.  
  
"You have brought us on a hopeless quest. We want to go home. We've come to this decision together. We've. . .fallen in love."  
  
"What?! Is that even possible? When in history have two Kokiri fallen in love?"  
  
"It doesn't matter," Holly said. Both still glared, eyes fixed. "It happened. You know we could never stop Ganondorf."  
  
"No, I don't. We can and will. The Evil One will fall. You have trusted me this far. Why not now?"  
  
"When did we ever trust you? You lost me! You gave Holly no hope when I was lost! You do not and have never, ever had our trust. It's time for you to go away."  
  
Then I realized why my back had felt light. My sword. They'd taken it in my sleep. Mako pulled it from behind the statue, and both of them grasped the hilt together. I had no time to react, to make a plan or plea, and I died by my own sword yet again.  
  
I came awake yet again, the same ghostly feeling of phantom pain. There hadn't really been any. Just another dream.  
  
I looked around as I stood and for some reason my eyes wouldn't open. I couldn't see anything. I reached up and felt my eyelids, then started with shock.  
  
They were open. Somehow I'd gone blind. But that wasn't completely true. I'd lost my first eyesight, but the strange power I'd gained when I'd flown for the first time I still had. It had been sitting, forgotten.  
  
I could see the waves, the grass, the sky, but only when the wind brushed against them. I looked down at my own arm. It was glowing brightly, a lantern against the darkness. I cried out for Mako and Holly but got no answer. Not that I needed to call I would have been able to see them anyway.  
  
The edges of my sight began to blur, and I realized I was dreaming again. I looked out at the world around me, wondering why all this had happened to me. To spur me on? To show me how important my friends were? To teach me not to put all my faith in them even so? To not put to much faith in my own power either? Maybe I would never find out.  
  
Raindrops splashed my face, and I knew I was truly awake at last. Holly was three inches from away, screaming for me to wake up.  
  
Mako was groaning and sitting up a few feet over. "What a dream. Wow. What a trip." He passed a hand threw his dark hair and peered up at the sky.  
  
Holly seemed close to hysterics. "You wouldn't wake up. Neither of you. I was so worried. You. . .you're okay right?" She asked peering at me.  
  
I responded with exactly what I'd been thinking. "I wish I knew."  
  
Chapter XXXIX: The Sorceress  
  
-Laruto  
  
I looked out at the murmuring group arrayed before me, and wondered if I should say something. I'd gathered everyone back on ledge where I'd first rallied them for battle, and now. At evening after two days of fighting, the people of Outset were ragged and tired. Ripped from their homes, most of which were now piles of scattered debris. Only six of the Deku were left, counting the two I'd sent with Medli and Shiek.  
  
Throughout the crowd I could see Jharmyne, Fala, Gris, and the two Deku that weren't guarding me scattered about. I couldn't understand why Jharmyne she was here. She'd gone into hiding with the children. She'd refused a weapon, and accepted the cowardly way even her daughter hadn't taken.  
  
I stood on top of the bridge pillar, my preferred way of addressing the villagers, when suddenly I heard a massive whoosh of billowing water, and waves striking the sand. I looked towards the sea and saw the pirate ship lift into the air. Slowly, gently at first, and then building up speed until it was fast becoming a mere speck.  
  
I sensed nauseating wave of hatred flash through me, and knew I had to do something. But would I have enough strength to fight something so like Ganondorf?  
  
I couldn't fly, but I could do something almost as good. I leapt into the air, flipping end over end, and landed on the beach, but I didn't stop. The ground rippled beneath me like pond water and shot me into the air. I felt ropes wrap around my feet and realized the Scrubs were coming with me yet again. All four. After this, I was going to make it clear their debt was far past paid.  
  
I didn't know if I had enough power for the coming battle, but I was on my way all the same.  
  
-Medli  
  
Gravity pressed us to the deck as we soared higher and higher, until the air grew icy and made my breathe mist. As soon as our speed leveled out, Sasuke charged forward again, sword held high.  
  
The two clashed with an echoing ring. Sasuke swung his sword in a high arc while grabbing her other arm to slow her sword. He drew a long gash across her cheek that sprayed blood as they fought. The pirate drew him out with a series of sharp, powerful strikes, and flipped her leg out, tripping him. She then leapt forward and slashed open his throat, killing him instantly.  
  
Shiek howled with bitter rage and raced forward, wind screaming with him as he brandished the Wind Waker. I struggled to think of something, anything I could do, but I was unarmed, and virtually powerless.  
  
While Shiek and the sorceress pirate battled, she spoke. "Ah. The Waker of Winds. Exactly the ah..." her next word was filled with contempt, "- man- I was looking for. Ganondorf will indeed accept my proposal when I bring not only the Triforces of Courage and Wisdom, but also the Waker and a Sage."  
  
"Don't waste your breath with empty threats!" Shiek responded, "I'LL KILL YOU!"  
  
The air melted and shimmered around her suddenly as her appearance changed. In seconds the pirate truly looked like a witch, her clothes transformed into dark green robes, her hair turned from fair to dark. Sizzling flashes drew over the blond, eating it and making it shaded in a strange tone, but not a beautiful color like Fala's hair. It was a dull sickly black, almost the color of her clothes.  
  
- Gepqa-  
  
The ship rocked back and forth the sails full, then slack. I struggled to keep my feet as Shiek's sandals clacked against the wooden deck. Blasts of lightning struck here and there from Gepqa as Shiek continually battered her off her feet with wind. He ducked away from the discharges, and then suddenly stopped, and called up an odd tune with the wand.  
  
I cried out in horror as Sasuke began to rise. He lurched forward and wrapped around her. At that moment an arrow was suddenly growing from Gepqa's left arm. Mel stood in the rigging, launching arrows as fast as his fingers could fly across the bowstring.  
  
Still I didn't know what to do. Fear kept me rooted to the spot as Shiek collapsed to the deck under a bolt of lightning. Whatever he had done to Sasuke had distracted him momentarily from defense. Both boys, one alive, one dead, fell together in a heap on the deck and rolled against a rail. The Wind Waker clattered to a stop a few feet away.  
  
The arrow in Gepqa's arm caught fire and she pulled it free and returned it to its sender. Mel fell to the deck next to Shiek and Sasuke, a burning ball of flame. We were getting taken down one by one.  
  
Remembering the orb Laruto had launched long ago when we'd first met, I decided I had to try the same.  
  
But before I could attempt anything, the sorceress charged. I felt frost lock my spine and throw my knees together. Gepqa raised her sword. . .  
  
"Mother! I will NOT let you do this!" Zelda cried out, blocking the blade. "I have stood by too long," the soft-spoken girl whispered vehemently, anger coloring her words.  
  
"Betrayed by my own daughter! I should have expected no less. You always were a simpering, sympathetic idiot."  
  
The two fought and once again the ring of swords filled the air.  
  
Gepqa fought the same as she had against Sasuke and Shiek, showing no mercy toward her daughter. I watched in horror as the two leapt, spun, slashed, parried. But Zelda was no match for the very person that had taught her to fight.  
  
Gepqa dropped her sword and ducked underneath Zelda's strike, and punched her across the face, a jolt of lighting following her fist. She picked up the girl, and with sparks still crawling across her body, Zelda was among the other three.  
  
I was alone.  
  
I concentrated, pouring all my hatred, rage, fear, and despair into an orb of solid darkness. A brush of foul-smelling air rushed past as the ball of energy struck it's target.  
  
But the witch wasn't hurt. To my horror, she began to grow. A foot taller, she laughed aloud with derision. "Thank you, you fool! Do you really think such negatives can stop me?"  
  
Fighting back the fear, an icy and solid monster in my chest, I charged her, sweeping up the Waker and launching myself into the air. I flew over her head and raked my talons down her back. Gepqa followed after me with her blade and laid open my left wing. I fell to the deck and she stood over me triumphantly. A kick left me gasping for breath as she raised her sword high, preparing to strike me down yet again.  
  
I saw a blue dot on the horizon rapidly closing in and realized it was Laruto. I looked up at the witch and grinned. "Your death has arrived." The woman in that instant was gone. Laruto and Gepqa went spinning out to the edge of the railing, Laruto striking, then leaping back and making the boat ripple beneath her and flipping over end she would fly after the pirate again, tiny orbs of blue flying from her fists in rivers. Gepqa pushed her skills further, flying and launching scathing fire that started the sails burning.  
  
Four Deku Scrubs were looking about the deck, confused. Three drew arrows and pointed them at the witch. The last ran to Mel's charred body. As before, an orange glow came up from under a hand placed on his skin. I struggled to sit up and speak. "What are you doing?"  
  
The Scrub looked at me distractedly when he was done. "I absorbed their consciousness." Before I could ask what that meant, he dashed off, drawing a bow as he went.  
  
I looked up and saw Laruto leap off the crow's nest, grab Gepqa by the arm, and hurl her into the mast. Unable to help, I limped to Shiek and Zelda, to see if they still lived.  
  
A wordless shout brought my head up. In slow motion, I saw Laruto pierced through the leg by a sword. Gepqa sent her into the crow's nest and the whole thing exploded into wooden fragments. I had no time to react to the debris that sent me tumbling into darkness. 


	13. Part 13

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Alright. Here's Laturo's chapter. (  
  
Chapter XXXIX: Food  
  
-Link  
  
I stood up angrily. "I can't stay here! I have to leave." The doctors walked away, ignoring me. I cast about for some means of escape, but I couldn't see any way out. On command, the girl began to speak, her lungs heaving as she spoke animatedly, her whitish blond hair whipping around.  
  
"When the Rain came, the city Kakariko was cast into the depths. The Gorons gave us no help. We were divided and scattered. Frightened and cut off. We were cast into two groups when an issue came up. There were. . .things down here with us. Ghosts. They offered us incredible power if we would accept them into our bodies. But it had to happen willingly. The people of this city are those that were willing. The rest were content to scratch and scrape a living together out of bare rock. We soon found ourselves able to swim through lava, command creatures such as the ReDead, grow the mushrooms that protect our city, and more. But all this came with a price. We must have flesh. Not just of cows and cuccos, but flesh once inhabited by a soul."  
  
I'd only been half listening, trying to figure out what to do, but those last words brought me up short. "That's disgusting. I can't stay here! I have to leave." I pressed against the cool glass and stared out at the sea of red. I wished I could see Zelda. I missed her, missed being around people that weren't trying to kill me for some insane reason. Her face popped up in my mind and I smiled. Then Girl responded to what I'd said and brought me back down, wiped the smile off my face. I felt so completely alone.  
  
"You can't leave. We can't allow outsiders to know about us. You would stop burying your dead."  
  
"So what are you going to do with me?"  
  
She stood up, leaned close, and whispered. "You harbor much power. Merge with one of us, and you would be unstoppable. A Poe is being brought as we speak."  
  
A low moan of horror escaped my lips. I looked up at the mushrooms. They had saved me. Brought me in here somehow. I formed a plan.  
  
A sigh of resignation escaped my lips. "I guess if I'm stuck here I should know more about this place. Tell me about those mushrooms."  
  
She smiled broadly and began to explain. "They create a force field that keeps back the magma. We grow them ourselves. Every decade, they have to be replaced. The glass is there to keep children from the edge. They also have teleportation powers. They break you down and pull you in, push you out, or send you to another mushroom."  
  
I tried to remember what I'd done to the mushroom to activate it, but I couldn't remember exactly what I'd done. Girl kept right on talking while I thought. She seemed to have a hard time restraining herself.  
  
". . .and that's how we crossbred octoroks and cuccos. Ah. Good. Your ghost is here."  
  
The three doctors, as well as four well-armed men appeared. The one I'd spoken to before was holding a bottle that contained what looked like a splotchy orange, white and purple face. I let my boomerang fly from my pocket without touching it, and drew my bow as well. I wasn't going down without a fight.  
  
The four jumped me and I fired the bow point blank into the chest of the first. The boomerang knocked the head of the second, and an outward kick with both legs struck the remainder. None of which did any good. Blood poured from chest, forehead, and lips, but obviously not enough to slow down their reaction time. Four crossbows, as the girl had called them once, clicked. I fell back on my last resort yet again and filled the air with the deadly golden light. My legs exploded into pain and I stumbled to my knees. A horrible blow to the back of the head sent me nose first to the street. As everything went dark I found myself infuriated at having been through so much only to lose now. . .  
  
When I woke I was standing in the midst of what I thought was a small arena, a crowd packing every seat, as I could hear cheers from not too far away. It was so dark I could barely see anything. A horrible chuckle cut through, a confident laugh that sent a shiver crawling up my spine. A swishing noise filled the air and I felt a brush of wind.  
  
I tapped into the power of the Triforce for light, and felt nothing. I glanced at my hand. Too dark. Peering out, I saw a faint light, and realized I'd been separated from it somehow. I soared into the air after it and wondered how much the crowd could see. I heard another nasty chuckle and felt another breeze. Just inches from the Triforce, I felt a horrible coldness strike my left hand.  
  
So cold, it went numb instantly. I felt the icy chill crawl up my arm, and realized the Poe had me in its grip. I felt myself shrinking, diminishing. I screamed in raw terror.  
  
"Help! Someone please, Din, Nayru, Farore someone please help me! I forced together my courage to work up a plan but it was no use. I was slipping away, to die in this underground world. Never to see sunlight again, or Zelda's blue eyes, or a thousand other things.  
  
"Aaaaaaargh! I can feel it!" I screamed. "It's devouring me!"  
  
-Zelda  
  
I walked up to the nearest point of entry to the ruinous city. After a few moments thought, I'd decided to begin my search for Link here first.  
  
Two men crossed swords in my path, blocking my way.  
  
"No passage without a toll, eh Trisyrt?"  
  
"Aye, Griman. No passage. Give us your sword, pretty lady, and we'll let you pass."  
  
I grinned in the faint light. "You want my sword? I'd be happy to oblige." Then I saw the detail on the sword Trisyrt carried. There was no other like it. In a clumsy, half moblined grip, he bore the Master Sword. And the other man, I noticed, carried Link's sword.  
  
"What have you done with Link?" I asked, unable to keep more than a hint of anger from lacing my words.  
  
"Who? We don't have a clue what you're talking about," Trisyrt said.  
  
"Are you going to pay or leave, girl?" Griman asked impatiently.  
  
"That's right. You asked for my blade." I let out a battle cry and charged Trisyrt, deflecting his amateur defensive blows and slashing his leg. I heard the –tak- of sandals against stone and leapt against the wall spinning a half circle, and catching Griman's far more skilled strike and pushing it into the worn bricks with a loud clattering.  
  
He swung a blocking parry against my next driving cut and dropped low, trying to put his sword inside my reach. Brown hair flowing out over my shoulder, I swerved backwards and flicked my sword into a two-handed grip, driving forward. Griman steeled his own grip in preparation, but I moved right at the last minute and struck at Trisyrt.  
  
Defeated again, he shrank back, allowing me to concentrate on the smaller but stronger and more skilled of the pair. I snatched the Master Sword from the man and nearly lost my head to a blow from Griman. He darted forward with an ugly leer and caught a lock of hair three inches long. I snarled and spun both swords around in a whirling arc, dashing across the well-worn cobblestone ground.  
  
Griman, one hand occupied by my hair, couldn't block both my swords. The Master Sword found easy purchase deep in his heart, and the battle was over.  
  
No matter how reserved I walked, I couldn't keep from clattering. Link's two swords strapped to my back with the two thieves' belts, I had begun my search once again. Slowly I made my way instinctively to the tallest building in the area, an ancient windmill.  
  
When I reached it, I saw a man walk out, singing softly to himself a cheerful tune and putting on a hat.  
  
"Go around, Go around. . . lalalalala." Plucking at a thin goatee, the man turned in shock when I called out to him. "Can I help you? Did you get burnt somehow?"  
  
Glancing down at sun-darkened skin that was out of place in a world with no sun, my words tumbled out in a rush.  
  
"I'm after a young man, blond hair, medium height, wearing a green tunic and carrying two swords. Have you seen him?"  
  
"I don't think I have, but I'd be happy to-oh dear! I did see a man like that, but he couldn't be the man you seek. He was a murderer and a liar. Dangerous. Griman and Trisyrt took him away."  
  
"He was not a murderer or a liar! I must find him! Save him! I will not let the man I love be lost!" The words came to me as a much greater surprise than they did to the man.  
  
"Ah. I see. You love him. That's worth fighting for." He was quiet for a moment and then added another sentence under his breath. "Never let them slip away."  
  
"I do not love him. The wrong words slipped out. He's my friend, and he's on a very important quest. Where did those thugs take him?"  
  
"I wouldn't tell you where he's been taken, but he's been buried by now so it can't hurt for the woman who loved him to visit his grave. Follow this road for awhile, then turn right and follow it for another while."  
  
I tried to speak but couldn't. Dead? How could that be? I looked up at the man, words still unreachable. My chest felt tight. Ignoring the swords on my back, I turned and ran.  
  
"God see thee well!" He cried out after me. "I hope you find someone else! Lalalala!" That was the last I saw or heard of Mr. Sensitive. I didn't stop running until I reached a battered gate that hung open, untouched by wind. Seemingly endless rows of ancient graves stood before me. As soon as I could, I took off again, scanning for freshly moved dirt.  
  
Eventually I found a man smoothing over a square of dirt with no tombstone. I ran forward and tackled the grave-keeper. "WHERE IS MY LINK? What have you done with him?" I thundered. Before the startled old man could respond, the ground gave way beneath us.  
  
Chapter XL: The Next  
  
-Mako  
I looked out happily around me at the much larger island we'd arrived at. Fado assured us we were very close to Gale Isle, our final goal, and that this was just a short stop so he could catch his breath.  
  
"We're very close to Gale. That's our final goal. This is just a short stop while I catch my breath."  
  
Grass crunched beneath our feet as we stepped past the tiny beach. A tiny village clung to a hilltop on the far side, and a forest dominated much of the rest of the area, making all three of us instantly homesick, though I loved to travel more than Fado and Holly.  
  
As one, all three of us rushed to the closest tree and clasped hands. Without a word to each other, we began to dance around it in circles and sing at the top of our lungs.  
  
-Home again, I can see at last  
I'll not leave again  
All my wonderings are past  
Happy to have seen it all  
But my home in the fall  
Is worth more than mere sights  
My home is where I'll spend my nights.-  
  
That song and a dozen others burst out of us as we spent much of the day until we reached exhaustion enjoying the forest.  
  
As Fado sat cross-legged and Holly began combing the beach for potion ingredients, I began to pick up, weigh, and discard various sticks across the island. Finally I found two that made perfect staffs, almost as good as a Deku Stick. I walked back to Fado and tossed one at his feet.  
  
"Teach me how to fight," I said, holding my stick in a fighting pose. Fado grinned up at me and removed his sword belt and cello. In a matter of seconds after that, my hand was stinging and my staff had been flung towards the beach.  
  
"Boys," Holly muttered, dropping the stick at my feet and wondering into the woods, rubbing at a small bruise.  
  
"She must have been intimidated by my good lucks and stunning show of natural talent," I said.  
  
It was somewhat offense when, rather than offering an affirmative, or saying anything at all, Fado threw back his head and laughed. It took him far too long to finally speak, and even then he was still laughing.  
  
"Holly. . .intimi-hahaha-dated. . .by your...heh heh heh. . .good looks...hahaha...and talent. Oh my," he said, wiping away a tear. "Tha-hehe-t is great."  
  
I frowned and picked up my staff. Fado stopped laughing and began to instruct. "Keep a balanced, tight grip, and don't let your guard down. Use your opponent against you. Let him tire-out, over swing. And most importantly, stay calm. Now, come at me.  
  
Hours later, done in once again, we dropped to the ground, tired, hungry, and thirsty.  
  
"Want to see what Holly's up to?" I asked, laying back and staring at the sunny sky.  
  
"She's probably been staring at a leaf or rock for hours." Fado said with a laugh. He lifted up his stick, and challenged me again. I swung at him but he ducked into the air and began to fly away. He swooped down and picked up his cello. I tried to tackle him but missed and hit the grass. I chased after him but he always stayed a few feet above my head. Laughing so hard he almost fell out of the air, he called out "Come, young Mako, use thy sagely power and take flight!"  
  
"I'll show you sagely power when you land!"  
  
"See the sage known as Mako, and despair thou at his inability to make good comebacks." He floated out over the sea, blond hair tossed in every direction as I ran through the village, scattered Hylians stopping to watch the strange sight of a child soaring through the air.  
  
"'Scuse me, pardon, coming through, watch out." I finally reached the rocky shore and could see Fado reach for his cello. Before he could reach it, the huge smile and laughing eyes faded as he fell from the sky. Immediately I jumped in and found myself in a suddenly storm-tossed sea. Before me a ship appeared out of nowhere when I reached the place where my friend had been struck.  
  
I found Fado swimming nearby, rubbing bewilderedly at his head. A rope ladder fell down to us. The shore was far away now, the waves were rough, and I was no great swimmer. With Fado close behind, I began to climb.  
  
Chapter XLI: About a Burning Fire  
  
-Laruto  
  
-Kill her. Kill the sorceress. Kill Gepqa now.-  
  
Whispers from sages past poured over me, far and above softer than the burning fire that pulsed through my veins. I felt grasping hands forging my strength into a sword. And the blade was willing. Gepqa had to die.  
  
My friends lay in a pile on the deck. Even Medli. As I looked closer, I saw a gaping head wound. She was almost certainly dead. I felt a strange reserve. Complete calm. But for a moment, I hesitated. And in that single moment, disaster struck.  
  
The Deku Scrubs attacked.  
  
With odd squeaky battlecries, the four Scrubs that had come with me launched forward, firing arrows and Deku Nuts with no sign of fear. A blast of flame cut down three, who tumbled into the fourth. All stumbled into the pile of dead warriors pressed against the railing. I saw an orange glow coming from it, but focused my attention where it needed to be. Gepqa had to die.  
  
I leapt into the air and stayed there, flying like an arrow into the woman. She staggered back and hit the wide wooden pole that jutted from the edge of the bow hard enough to make the ship tilt. Geqpa pulled herself to her feet slowly, glaring at me.  
  
"Do you honestly think you can win against me? I will crush you and make you wish you'd never interfered."  
  
I was almost relieved. The typical evil person speech. She didn't stand a chance.  
  
I back-flipped away and then flipped again in midair and charged, sending down a rain of blue orbs that made thudding noises as they imbedded themselves in the deck. I hit her again myself but this time she held on. We both went punching and kicking in fast motion over the rail.  
  
Howling wind ripped into both of us, the limitless blue spread before us ever wider. Gepqa sent a wind knocking fist into my chest and I felt a horrible numbness as little green bolts of lightning squiggled over my skin. I rushed closer and closer as Gepqa left me and soared for the ship. I struck the ocean at a speed far faster than when my body had been broken, and felt no pain, sending water high in the air. But still couldn't move, sinking ever deeper.  
  
-Get up there Laruto. Kill the Sorceress. Kill Gepqa.-  
  
Seconds later I struck the deck of the ship and made the decking rattle. I could see a few pirates cowering in one corner, and Gepqa leaning over the heap of dead warriors.  
  
Silently I took to the air.  
  
"Miss Gepqa! Look out!"  
  
Blasts of flame flew my way, sizzling through the air. I stopped, floating, and began deflecting them. Gepqa grinned chillingly and threw a looped chain around my waist. Before I could react, she soared into the air, yanking me with her.  
  
"Come along, my dear. We have much to discuss."  
  
The biting cold air grew even colder as we flew ever higher, straight into a cloud. Then she pulled the chain, sending me into a kick that made my neck snap.  
  
I slipped out of the chain and grabbed onto it, following through the mist when she pulled again. I struck her once and didn't stop. She was barely flying, arms and legs limp. I flew upward, corkscrewing, and finished her with a cannonball into her chest. She fell as fast as one, down to strike the deck and go through into a lower level. Not trusting any such fortune that she was dead, I flew after her.  
  
Not stopping to survey they chaotic state of the ship I flew straight in and landed near the hole, in a room filled with hammocks.  
  
A forest of white cloth swayed around me. No sign of Gepqa. Suddenly a voice cried out, but it wasn't hers.  
  
"Oo's that bangin' abou' ou' there? Can' a mate get 'is sleep?" The incongruous idea of a man sleeping through his ship lifting into the air or the massive battle raging around him was too difficult to grasp. I tensed, expecting an attack at any second. I had no time to spare heavy sleepers.  
  
A heard a crackling and turned to see a line of flame drifting through the simple beds, but no sight of my target. I took off, feet moving in a blur, for the line of flame. I had been heading towards a wall, but when I stopped I was facing the way I'd come.  
  
I saw the flame again towards my right and took off again but only found myself back where I'd started, underneath the hole. She was using illusions to trick me. I lowered my head to think and saw a blue glow beneath my feet in the next deck down, but like so many things, I pushed the thought away. With the whispers in my ear, the burning all through me, and my own heart pounding, it was almost impossible to think. But I came up with a solution.  
  
She was using my sight to trick me. I held out my left hand and used my newfound power to fill the room with mist. Now neither of us could see properly, and the fire would be put out.  
  
The sleeping pirate cursed and yelled out. "Yewer lettin' in a draft, man! We mus' be passin' through a fog. Close th' door!"  
  
Trying to listen for the sorceress, I almost yelled at him to shut up when I heard a footstep behind me. I felt a sword and a fist coming at me and with no time to dodge both, I moved into the fist. I was sent to the floor by a cracking blow to my back that forced a sharp cry from my mouth.  
  
I spun myself with my feet to face her, not hitting the ground, not using my arms, and leapt upward to punch her. She reeled back against a wall, nearly speared by two brackets sticking from the wood, and charged forward. I ran backward, firing orbs point blank.  
  
Her sword struck through the air. The ship dove upward suddenly, throwing off my aim and sending me straight out the gap and into the air again.  
  
I landed easily near the broken mast, legs bending slightly, and Gepqa soon followed. My last attack had found more purchase than I'd realized. Her face was horribly pitted and masked with blood. Her voice was a croak.  
  
"I didn't want to do this. I didn't. Curse you a thousand times for forcing me."  
  
Suddenly she began to blur, the outline of her body swaying and transforming. As she changed and grew into a monster far more sinister than what she already was, I realized just how badly I'd underestimated her. 


	14. Part 14

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XLII: Control  
  
-Edger, a Poe of the Seventeenth Lineholder Division (formerly)  
  
As the last screaming vestiges of my host's soul quieted, I took stock of my new body. A thin but lithe and intense Hylian male, blond hair, blue eyes, a tunic so worn I could barely tell it was green. But deeper. . . this creature possessed incredible power beyond anything I'd seen since my time long, long ago, living in Hyrule as a thief. In addition to all this, he possessed two magical attachments. One was to a boomerang, which I promptly called, and the other was to the Triforce of Courage, shining a few feet from my face, casting light.  
  
My face. How I'd longed for this day! And even better, I'd been provided with more power than any other host could have ever offered. No more grunt work lineholding for me! But then I sensed something else. Something as deep and strong as his power. Images of a girl with very long brown hair appeared. A feeling I hadn't known in three centuries overcame me. Love. Vague, oppressed memories tried to find me, but I'd sacrificed my memories to take on flesh again. Already I had to struggle to remember my name wasn't Link.  
  
I wanted to know more about this girl. I had to find her. But suddenly I felt the boy fighting me. I had no strength to stop him. An overwhelming flood washed me away like I was nothing.  
  
-Link  
  
As the devouring Poe took my body, everything faded and went dark. There was only void. Total sense deprivation. Only my thoughts proved I still existed at all. I tried to do something, anything, but I was paralyzed and cut off. The only thing I could feel was my own mind unraveling. My memories, my preferences, my sense of duty, my courage, my fear, my hatred. All disappearing. But worst of all. . .my love.  
  
It took far too much concentration to picture Zelda. I felt my soul being torn from connection to hers. I knew my defeat could also mean the end of the world, but I didn't care. I couldn't lose her. I began to fight back. I pushed and raged, using all that I had left to break free of my prison.  
  
To my surprise, I was soon back in control. My senses came alive just in time for me to get hit by my boomerang. I was glad to feel anything at all as I slipped it into my pocket. I looked down and saw the Triforce shining before me. I thought about picking it up, but really I didn't care anymore. I began to walk away and stopped. What kind of future awaited Zelda and I? If I gave up now, and Ganondorf somehow got his hands on the Triforce. . .  
  
I couldn't let it happen.  
  
I quickly went back and swept the golden triangle back where it belonged in my hand. Awareness like nothing I'd ever known came over. I could now see that the Poe was still within my body, unlocking to me more power than I'd ever had before.  
  
I flew easily into the air, my cape almost unnecessary now. I felt ready to take on Ganondorf. Shattering the Triforce seemed ridiculous now. I left the confused crowd at the coliseum soared to the glass wall. It shattered and I flew back into the lava.  
  
-Zelda  
  
We landed in a coffin.  
  
I arose horrified in a small dirt cave. The lid was nearby, filled slightly burnt arrows, and fried bodies were strewn everywhere.  
  
I looked down to see what had become of the old man and grew more horror- struck still. The old caretaker's broken body was right beneath me! I leapt up and brushed off my clothes.  
  
"Erm. Sorry about that. Have a nice afterlife." I shivered and began to walk off, out the only horizontal exit. Even though I knew it wasn't entirely my fault, I was completely smashed in by the idea I'd killed someone.  
  
I forced myself to turn and walk back. Forced myself to resituate the man so that his body was entirely in the coffin, and forced myself to lift the heavy, badly damaged lid and close away his body.  
  
"Phew." A few minutes later I was back on my way, wondering if all this was Link's handiwork.  
  
I reached a pool of lava at the end of the tunnel. It was flowing like a river and seemed to be very deep. Could he be down there?  
  
My question was soon joined by an answer when Link came flying out. His clothes were ragged and disgusting, looking as though they'd been badly burnt, and his hair had turned somewhat blackish, but I could tell it was him.  
  
Without speaking, we embraced tightly. I never wanted to let go again, but circumstances forced it.  
  
"You smell like Moblin Du-"  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
"I smell like what?"  
  
"What happened to your hair?"  
  
"You love me too?"  
  
"Really. What happened to your hair?"  
  
"It's a loooooong story." Link said. "First I. . ."  
  
"Tell me later," I broke in. We really have to get you a change of clothes."  
  
"I don't have a clue where we'd find that," he said, taking back his swords and placing them in their equally worn scabbards.  
  
"I think I know of a place."  
  
Chapter XLIII: "It's been fun, but I really have to scream now."  
  
-Fado  
  
A shiver ran up my spine as I set foot on the deck of the ship. I wasn't scared, but somehow this place was affecting me. I closed my eyes and concentrated my 'wind sight' for a moment, and saw a blazing mass of red beneath our decks. Something jumped a few levels below us, and I lost my concentration.  
  
"I've got a bad feeling about this," I said, looking up at Mako to tell him what I'd seen. The huge ship seemed to grow all around us like a forest of masts and rigging. The bright day had been overtaken by a thick cloying mist that blocked even the edges of the ship from view.  
  
Still dripping water, I sent drops flying when I went into a fighting stance, staff held at the ready, violin banging my back. I'd been using it as a cello all this time, but I'd tried it as a fiddle when I'd been flying outside the ship and liked it better that way.  
  
Suddenly a red-haired Hylian girl in a blue dress with white flowers and a white apron with blue flowers walked from around a corner and jumped in shock. "What-where'd you come from?" Mako spoke up before I could stop him.  
  
"We're traveling salesmen. We were really hoping to give you the opportunity to buy our wares. In fact, we were so eager, we forgot to but them."  
  
"That's very kind of you. I'll find you a room to stay and get you some food." She grabbed Mako's arm and the two began to chat as they walked. I was forced to tag along, trying to get his attention and tell him we needed to jump overboard.  
  
"Yeah, I'm also a warrior. I've killed hundreds in my day."  
  
She led us to a door towards the back of the massive ship, still arm in arm with the mighty warrior, and we soon stood before a seemingly endless hallway. Lanterns spread dull yellowish glows that attracted insects, and a well-worn rug with a simple pattern of blue and red made our footsteps eerily silent after all the noise we'd made on deck.  
  
But not her.  
  
The girl hadn't made a bit of noise thus far except with her voice. And where was the crew? But still I couldn't get Mako's attention away from her. She seemed to be drinking in every word of his lies. That's the way he'd always been. Once he started, he couldn't stop himself.  
  
. . . a former knight of Hyrule. My friend? He was a jester or a statue. I can't remember which."  
  
She sat us down in a small room with a table and chairs, two ornate paintings, a mirror and a china cabinet, all covered in dust. And left. Finally, we were alone for a moment.  
  
"Mako, I. . ."  
  
"I think she likes me." He broke in.  
  
"I thought you were in love with Hol-never mind. Just a dream. We have to get out of here."  
  
"We can't leave! We just got here. I'm hungry."  
  
"Yes, you're right. You can't leave." The girl came back in, but this time with eyes glowing a brighter red than her hair. The twin beams of light hit the mirror and made everything bathed in red in a sudden darkness that fell over the room. "Father's restless. You'd better steer clear of him, though. You can stay with me, Mako." I shouldn't have to mention she had no way of knowing his name sense he'd told her it was Link.  
  
"Heh heh heh. It's been fun, but I really have to scream now." Mako said, standing up.  
  
"Mako!"  
  
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"  
  
I grabbed him and ran for the door. Both of us stumbled out into the corridor. Far too long to be at the –back- of a ship.  
  
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"  
  
A short man was standing before us, yelling angrily, wordlessly. I tipped my hat to him and began to walk away. "Good day to ye, sir."  
  
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE." Arms as transparent as glass stretched outward to wrap around us, pirate rags flapping. Mako didn't move an inch but followed them with his eyes, complexion almost white.  
  
"I've lost my appetite. I'm not hungry anymore," he said very, very quietly.  
  
I pressed forward with my staff and issued a threat. "I'm only going to say this once. Let us go or you're going to be extremely sorry."  
  
"Can we go home now?" Mako asked, drawing his own weapon.  
  
"I don't think so." I said sadly, as the arms tightened to sweep us off our feet.  
  
I ducked low but Mako was just a little too slow and both of us were bowled over to land at the ghost man's feet. The man looked down at us and grinned. The captain will see you now. Behind the man I could see a rise in the carpet rushing towards us.  
  
Both of us were soon rolling down the hall back towards the door, but before we reached it the rug launched us into the air and into separate doors on either side of the hall.  
  
I stood up, my wind sight going without my intending it to. Everything was red. As the door slammed shut behind me, I came face to face with the captain.  
  
Chapter XLIV: Consume  
  
-Laruto  
  
A massive dragon, solid black but for the Triforce symbol across her chest, that blended with the inky night stood over me, blanketing half of the ship. Strangely, the ship didn't tilt an inch. I could feel my tiredness and an overwhelming thirst, but only from afar. Those things weren't important now. The ocean below me was beckoning. How long had it been since I'd swam? Not since meeting Gris.  
  
The fire and whispers fueled me as I leapt to attack the dragon, both hands at my side as I struck for Gepqa's face.  
  
A sound like something being hocked up filled the air and a massive ball of black goo hit me, and world grew darker still as I was launched overboard and straight into the vast expanse below. I fought all the way down, my skin burning, my lungs searing. I expected the water to wash off the strange substance, but it only clung faster.  
  
It was like drowning in fresh air. I was surrounded by the water I needed so badly. I sent a burst of crackling blue energy crawling over my skin and finally the goo gave up, arrows of blackness speeding off into the depths.  
  
I returned to the ship to find the dragon laughing at me.  
  
"Laugh now!" I cried out. "It'll be your last! For I will have the last laugh, and you will not. . .and. . . you will be defeated, and not laughing!"  
  
(That was the worst taunt I ever heard.) She didn't seem to be capable of regular speech anymore, and sent out thoughts instead.  
  
"It doesn't matter. Do you really think you're going to do anything other than die a horrible, painful death? Now if you're through playing around, I'd like to get back to work on making that happen." I flew into the air once again, but before I could attack Gepqa leapt into the air after me.  
  
(I will consume you. There is no escape.)  
  
I flew beneath the stern and waited, algae and barnacles crusted to the wood. Suddenly the entire ship lifted away from me and I was exposed.  
  
I floated right before the face of the massive dragon. She was using her back to prop the vessel up. Her mouth opened and before I could think I leapt in front of the blast and created a blue barrier, sending the goo back at her. Gepqa reeled backwards, sending her burden spinning and leaving her chest exposed.  
  
I landed on the center of the Triforce hard enough to make her fold in and began to draw power through my feet. And veins drew out on her skin, bulging as she was drained of energy. Suddenly I heard a muffled, snorting laugh and was whipped by a tail that sent me flying right through a wall of the ship and crashing into the sleeping quarters again.  
  
"Eh, mate? Wha're you up t' now? Keep i' quie'!"  
  
I ran for the hole in the ceiling and jumped, flipping end over end and struck out as soon as I saw Gepqa, expelling all the darkness I'd taken from her in fat, jagged black bolts. Suddenly spidery white-yellow lightning was following it, fingers of energy grasping all over Gepqa's body.  
  
She roared and slumped forward, striking at me as she fell apart, wings melting into noxious ooze. She sent another blast of the tar-like substance but a black liquid merely washed the deck at my feet. As the energy continued to crackle and burn, I felt my own life failing. Black specters danced at the edges of my vision, slowly but steadily drawing a veil over my sight.  
  
And my power was gone.  
  
I felt as though my feet were kicked out from under me. I spun dizzily for a moment, and then my legs gave way, my knees crashing to the deck.  
  
But as the slime creature that had been Gepqa drew herself back into Hylian form and stood up, I knew I had been right.  
  
My strength had not been enough. 


	15. Part 15

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XLV: Thieves  
  
(Link)  
  
"I thought for sure Griman was your size." I stood in the middle of a messy apartment, swimming in a shirt and parts far too big with Zelda suppressing a laugh. "We'll just stuff your clothes with pillows and blankets.  
  
"And then what? 'The Hero of Time waddles to the rescue.' I suppose I'd fit in with the Gorons. Can I have my tunic back now?"  
  
"I burned it for fuel when I made dinner."  
  
"Ah. And I thought it was your cooking that made the house smell." We'd broken into the dead man's apartment to find clothes, and so far had no luck. At least she hadn't gotten my hat, which had been cleaned and returned to place on my head.  
  
"I didn't really have much to work with. This man lived like a pig. I must have been thinking of Trisyrt. Pity I didn't kill him instead. I'll go find him and get a few things from him." Before I could protest, she'd left, door swinging behind her.  
  
I tried to run after her and tripped. How could Griman have worn such big clothes? He hadn't seemed that big to me. As I lifted myself up, an enormous man walked into the doorway and bellowed out at me. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Griman?"  
  
"My name's Uferw, you fool."  
  
(Zelda)  
  
I dashed down the twilight streets, heading back for the place where I'd started to seek out a clue about Trisyrt's whereabouts. Nothing.  
  
Remembering the man who'd helped me at the windmill, I decided to head in that direction. I felt a sinister presence fill the air and ducked into an alley as a black-cloaked figure walked by. Confidant he hadn't seen me, I was settled further back when he looked directly at me. Solid red eyes burned like hot coals, burning straight into my mind.  
  
Trisyrt.  
  
But something was obviously wrong. He ignored me, almost seeming not to recognize the girl that had bested him in combat. But that was impossible, right?  
I followed him and watched as he went into the windmill. Link had told me of their influence over the odd man I'd met, making me wonder what he was up to now. As he walked in and I lost sight of him, I heard a loud commotion behind me. "I'll catch you yet!" a voice bellowed.  
  
Link dashed around the corner, oversized clothes hitched up, cloak flailing behind him. He grabbed me by the collar as he got close. "I THINK YOU GOT THE WRONG APARTMENT!"  
  
I looked behind him and saw the mountain of a man chasing Link. "That's not Griman."  
  
"We gotta lose him, Speedy," Link said. "Let's go."  
  
"The Hero of Time, running?" I said. "Go fight him."  
  
"He's an innocent, and we broke into his house. I've no right. Did you find Trisyrt?"  
  
The memory of those strange, fiery eyes that would haunt my dreams came back to me, and I shivered involuntarily. "Yes. . .I found him."  
  
"Well? Where is he?"  
  
Suddenly Link made a choking gasp as a voice thundered, "HAH! GOTCHA!"  
  
(Link)  
  
At last I'd gotten clothes that fit. It felt odd, being back in regular clothes, after wearing the tunic so long. Simple pants and a shirt, plus my hat, cloak, and swords. We'd found a store willing to accept work for clothing, and Zelda was there right now, as I investigated at the windmill. What happened when the large man caught me isn't important. Suffice to say I was very cold when he finally let us be.  
  
The building had no windows, so I circled the building, avoiding the loosely hanging windmill blades, and found the remains of a tunnel around back that led upwards. I climbed into darkness and moss and eventually words echoed out towards me.  
  
"Go away, Darunia. Lalalala."  
  
"You know what I've come for. I'm not leaving this time until the job's done."  
  
I reached a rotting wooden platform and stared down into the room where I'd been sentenced to a live burial. For one screaming second I was back there, pressured and crushed, the moments that had given me claustrophobia relived.  
  
Breathing hard, I forced myself to focus on the scene below me. The bizarre man was speaking with Trisyrt, but as Zelda had said, his eyes glowed with red fire that was casting a hellish glow about the small room.  
  
"I've sent for the Bellen-Der," Trisyrt continued, "The matter will soon be out of your hands. Suffice it to say I and my master are not pleased."  
  
"I didn't know who they were, lalalala. I'm sorry. Let me handle it, please."  
  
"No."  
  
With that, the man swept out of the building, looking directly at me before he left. I was sure he was referring to us.  
  
I crept back down the tunnel and ran through the village streets, occasional passersby giving me odd looks. I had to see Zelda, not only because we needed to figure out what to do next, but because I needed to see her, hold her.  
  
But as I reached the clothing store, I could tell something was wrong. This was the busiest part of town, and the streets were empty.  
  
A window flung open in nearby building across the street. A woman stuck her head out and screamed at me.  
  
"Boy! The Bellen-Der are coming! Hide yourself-oh, no, no, no. I see one." The window slammed closed and I whirled, drawing both swords.  
  
Towards the direction we'd started at, by the door to the Goron realm, hundreds of massive, butterflies were flying in my direction. I almost laughed, but when I got a closer view, I knew I had nothing to smile about.  
  
Purple and blue wings as hard as diamonds glittered in the lantern glow. A tan segmented body with a six legs, all but two ending in a sharp scythe like blade. Three sets of compound eyes shattered my reflection a thousand times. And then the slavering jaws, long thin, needlelike teeth clacking together.  
  
The Bellen-Der had indeed come. As they landed in streams all around me I burst into the building where Zelda was.  
  
Or tried to. It was as locked up as all the others. I almost pounded on the door but then realized that would put Zelda in danger and ran out into the street. I it was time for a battle.  
  
But I was ignored. The creatures didn't seem to care about me at all. They clustered around the store and began poking at the windows. Finally I dashed up to one and drove it through on the Master Sword. With frightening speed, half the group lunged. I was suddenly surrounded by blades and teeth, fighting for my life. I almost used the Triforce, but stayed my hand. The Poe was still there. I wasn't sure I still had complete control over it anymore.  
  
I leapt into the air and was joined by a dozen Bellen-Der. I swung my swords out in spinning arcs to give myself room and used the boomerang to knock their heads around. I landed on the sidewall of one of the taller buildings, facing the ground, and waited.  
  
Just before I was driven through, I dashed into a gap they'd left and turned around, and swung, cutting off two heads. I flew forward and cut through the body of another, and sliced backwards just as one brought a blade to bear on me. It missed the body, but succeeded in removing the offending limb.  
  
I looked down and nearly fell out of the sky. Zelda was out on the street, fighting herself, grounded, and with only one sword she didn't have my advantage. I rushed to her aid when suddenly she was lifted into the air.  
  
She hadn't screamed yet. Still fighting, she was carried by a new Bellen- Der every time she killed one, and they were rapidly making their way out of the town.  
  
I couldn't keep up.  
  
Already winded, I forced myself to fly harder as they slipped away, all the way howling Zelda's name and she mine.  
  
I could see the ornate door covered in carvings hanging open. It slammed closed in my face as Zelda's last words shot out before she and I were separated.  
  
"Carry on with the quest!"  
  
Chapter XLVI: Art  
  
(Holly)  
  
The tiny wood offered plenty to see, explore, and more importantly, collect. Though I had plenty of potions from our time at Dragon Roost, you could never make too many. I emerged from the wood towards evening at the far side of the island, opposite the little village. The sun was bathing the sky before me in shades of red, purple, orange and blue. I took an example from Fado and collapsed, smiling, into the grass.  
  
Shifting my elbow uncomfortably because of the bruise, my thoughts turned to what my friends were doing right now. Without their cook, they were probably hungry, even though they always joked about getting turned into a tree or a glass of milk. A crackling sound made me jump. A boy just a little older than me was working in the grass, black casings and wires spread about. Flaming red hair caught the glow of the sunset as he turned and saw me.  
  
"Hello, stranger. Hey! A green tunic! You're one of the forest kids, aren't you? Papa said they all disappeared when the Rain came."  
  
"My name's Holly, and yes, I'm a Kokiri, -or Korok-" I whispered under my breath. "What are you doing there?" I asked, deflecting attention. I'd heard too many stories about the dangers of the outside world to be completely trusting, and didn't want to draw attention to our mission.  
  
"Trying to remember how to make a bomb. My Papa taught me how. He learned it from the Gorons, but they're all gone now, and so's he. Papa was a shopkeeper in one of the newer villages. He died in the Majorai war. I'm the only one that can provide the villagers with explosives."  
  
I tried to draw him out more about that and learn our history but he continually dodged the subject and asked my opinion on something his Papa had told or taught hum. I needed to get back to Fado and Mako, and the Great Deku Tree would be able to tell me someday, so I ended the conversation.  
  
"I've got to leave. I have friends expecting me." He grinned and tossed me the bomb he'd completed while we talked.  
  
"Come back sometime. We'll talk again." I nodded, smiling, and began to walk for the woods, and stopped to look up at the sky once more.  
  
The color had faded, and now sweeping blue clouds drifted across the earliest stars. "Din, Nayru, and Farore. It's beautiful here." I whispered.  
  
"Those again? You believe in the old goddesses? I think they're just myth. My Papa taught me there was just a one true god, watching over everything."  
  
"I guess that makes sense. I never really thought about them much. They sure aren't around now. They sure aren't doing anything for us."  
  
"Well," he said, "There are stories about a little girl who prayed for deliverance at the hand of the three during the War that brought the Rain, but they're just that, probably. Stories."  
  
I was shocked upon finally reaching the beach to find my two friends missing, without a trace.  
  
Except one. Fado's sword. I threw the belt over my shoulder the way Fado did and set off, running through the trees and calling out their names, but I was soon exhausted and no less alone. The island was small and didn't take long to cover. Wondering what I could do, I leaned against a tree- trunk as an unusually bitter night set me shivering. The journey was over if something happened to one of them. What good was I? I wasn't a sage like Fado and Mako. I was really just along for the ride, obeying the orders given by the Deku Tree.  
  
A twig snapped a few feet away and I jumped, reaching for a transforming potion, then the sword, but it was only a little girl. She smiled shyly. "Would you like to come to our village and warm yourself at our fire. My parents would invite you, but they're afrain you'll be mean. You won't, will you?"  
  
"No," I said smiling in return. I'll be nice."  
  
Just a few minutes later the cold was melting away in front of a small bonfire. The other villagers were eyeing me warily, but the little girl, Torta, had warmed up and was chatting amiably about anything that came to mind.  
  
A flash of a conversation swirling across the crackling fire sent my head jerking up from staring at the blaze. ". . .saw two others dressed like her earlier. I'm a keese if I didn't see one of 'em fly. Both went out into the water and got picked up by the Ghost Ship.  
  
So they were gone.  
  
I excused myself from the fire, disengaging a hand from Torta's, and raced to into the woods, seeking comfort in the familiar. But these were not my trees. They were all alien, speaking with strange voices and telling odd stories. I shut them out as I struggled to think. I had to find them. They were the heroes of this story. Without them, Ganondorf could grow stronger.  
  
The next morning I stood on the beach with all my preparations complete. The potion was ready. It needed only one more ingredient.  
  
I drew Fado's blade from its sheath and drew a thin cut into my palm. As it turned crimson, and began to drip out, and then eventually to gush, I let some of it fall into the bottle and used the rest for a different purpose. Holding the opened palm with my unwounded hand, I raised both before before the rising sun and made an oath.  
  
"By the one true god, I will find you both."  
  
(Mako)  
  
I found myself in a small, darkened room. A voice suddenly shot out through it, calm, but with a hint of something bubbling under the surface. Madness? Hate? One thing I knew. I hoped it wasn't another ghost.  
  
"Ah. You're here. Glad you could finally make it." Light followed the voice, four torches lighting on their own. Canvases, jars, and paintings in various states of completion littered the room. A man wearing the simple clothes of a Hylian villager, albeit messy, paint stained ones, was concentrating with one eye closed on a painting.  
  
What was an artist doing on a pirate ship?  
  
I shivered as I drew nearer. Yet another ghost.  
  
"You're here to learn my art, are you not? The way of the painter? Come closer or leave. I hate stragglers. And you aren't near enough to smell." Curiosity at that last remark getting the better of me, I did draw further into the room, and saw that the slightly faded man had no real eyes. Unnerving black orbs took their place.  
  
"Don't worry," the man said, smiling. "You have nothing to fear. I didn't die in quite the same way as any others you might have encountered. My eyes are as they are because I had a run in with the captain much the one your friend is having now. There's something about you. You're off. Are you interested in art?"  
  
"No. I want to find my friend and leave." I knew our being here was my fault. I'd failed to follow Fado's lead and gotten us into this. "If you can't help me, I'll be going. Now."  
  
"No, no. You can't leave. You'll find that door quite unyielding. Use force. Use magic. Use the key in that dresser over there. When the captain locks a door, it stays that way.  
  
Several minutes later, I realized he was telling the truth. Nothing I'd done had so much as left a scratch.  
  
"Very good. I do believe you are ready now."  
  
I'd lost all track of time.  
  
The brush glided across the nearly engulfed canvas. Using the intricate, subtle techniques Koi had taught me, I finished the girl's hair and began work on her face, switching to an even smaller brush than the one I was using, and dipping it into a jar stained with emerald green paint. I'd given the girl I'd drawn in the very corner of my painting the red-gold hair of the maid we'd met earlier, and was daydreaming about Holly's vibrant green eyes when Koi interrupted.  
  
"That's an incredible drawing. You've done very well. I think it's time for you to move on to the next level.  
"How can you see what I did?" I asked bluntly. "You're blind."  
  
"Not quite," he responded kindly. "I can see some things, in some ways. For example, I can see you, and other ghosts, and most other living things. And the impression they leave. I can see art, music, clothes, anything that someone put good thought into. Most of these walls are just a mass of black, but I can see a few planks where that particular worker worked with more passion."  
  
"I can't see any paint until it is spread across a finished painting, which adds to the level of difficulty, but I enjoy a challenge."  
  
I looked closely at the painting. I had no idea where it had come from, and was confused every time I looked at it. Rounded, egg shaped mountains cut smoothly across a green sky. The mountains were off in the distance, with a village of small, whitewashed, red-tile roofed houses stuck in between them and a vast field of thin purple flowers so thick I couldn't see any grass. A floating, yes, floating forest of trees rested in the lower left corner, the leaves spreading out above and roots shielded in dirt spread out below. They looked as though they were about three feet from the ground. In the lower right corner was the faceless girl.  
  
I hadn't realized that Koi was still speaking. ". . .well boy," the artist said, thumping me on the shoulder. "Get going. You've made a world with my special paints. Time to explore it."  
  
With that, the blind painter gave me a hearty shove, sending me sprawling into the painting.  
  
Chapter XLVII: Mutiny (Laruto)  
  
Gepqa stalked close, gloating in victory in the almost time honored way that villains would. She'd already circled me where I lay bowed, my head touching the deck.  
  
Powerless.  
  
The bruises she'd inflicted with her recent kicks didn't change much. When the voices had gone away, the pain from getting punched, smashed through a wall, and covered in burning goo had come rushing in. It was a wonder I still lived.  
  
She gasped and faltered for a moment, almost falling over, and I realized she wasn't much better than I was. Not so strong. I'd wondered during the battle why sages didn't always take on the enemy if what had been done to me could be accomplished through others. Now I knew.  
  
She was a feeble enemy. Not like Ganondorf. That was why a sage could be used against her. The only problem was that she wasn't quite fragile enough.  
Or was I simply too weak?  
  
I heard a rustle coming from where my friends lay dead and suddenly Shiek was up, holding Zelda and Sasuke's swords. He pointed one of them at Gepqa and screamed. "I SWORE I'D KILL YOU!"  
  
Racing across the floorboards two inches off the ground, I straightened to watch and saw the Wind Waker tucked into his belt. I heard Gepqa grunt and send flecks of green blood through the air as the young boy with a mop of blond hair, a pair of blue eyes, and a shirt with a Kyorg on it drove both swords deep into the woman's ribcage and stomach.  
  
A low growl of anger escaped the sorceress as she backhanded Shiek with incredible force. As she calmly drew her sword to finish me off I realized with a tinge of horror that I'd underestimated her yet again.  
  
Or not. As another sword sprouted from her neck, I was sure she was finished. But no. She was still coming when one pierced her leg and another her shoulder.  
  
Mutiny. Gepqa's own crew was trying to kill her now. One by one they stabbed her and left their swords, till the stink of blood and raw magic filled the air. She was doing her best to survive, but having over a dozen swords growing from her body couldn't be comfortable.  
  
The wounded sorceress glanced at me and grinned wickedly. "If I'm going down, I'm dragging you all there with me." She ran for where Medli, Zelda, and the rest had wound up, near a rail, and crashed into them, sending the warriors and Gepqa down to the ocean far, far below. Shiek was standing, rubbing away a dot of blood on his cheek. Taking the Wind Waker in hand, he dove like a Zora over the rail after them.  
  
I dragged myself over, watching the beginnings of morning light, hands scraping the jagged edge of the railing and with one final tug threw myself over as well. I flipped around without meaning to and saw the ragged ship shrink away, the pirates staring over the rail in confusion.  
  
I'd already missed the show. I stopped gently among thin streams of brilliant golden light weaving a sphere around everyone that had fallen. Just near the ocean, I could see the rising sun spreading its own light across the Sea, but what sat giving radiance in the center of the orb made me gasp.  
  
The source of Gepqa's power had separated from her, and her body was already settling into the waves, the swords that finished her floating with us. The Triforce of Wisdom spun over Zelda's hand, at last finding a bearer that was truly wise.  
  
The bodies of the slain were gathered. As the ship slowly lowered and headed back towards Outset, there suddenly seemed far too much to do, far too much to take in. Zelda had lost a mother. I'd lost all but one of my companions, all but one Scrub having died in service to me. I wished I'd released them long ago, but it wouldn't have helped. Gris was a sage too, and bent on helping me, debt or no.  
  
And Medli.  
  
The loss there was too great. I wanted to cry, scream, hide, rage. We'd already been through so much together, and now, so close to the goal, she wasn't going to see it met. And I might not either. The battle had left me physically empty. I had almost no life left. I could still see a little black at the edges of my vision. Zelda had begged me to sleep, but I feared if I did that I would never wake.  
  
A burial at sea was planned for Sasuke, Gris, Mel, Cufell, and Kell, and Medli. And then we'd have the rest to take care of when we returned. Canvas bags were wrapped around them, a large, dark-haired pirate working at sewing them closed. On the last one he cried out suddenly.  
  
"This one's still alive!" I tried to run, but I was still weak, and wound up hobbling over. Everyone else was already surrounding Medli by the time I got there as the Rito stirred, but didn't wake. I smiled and knelt slowly, grabbing her arm. "Looks like we're both depending on that soup, my friend," I whispered gazing at the girl's wounds. Shiek came over as everyone scattered and grabbed her other wrist.  
  
"She's very brave," he said, and suddenly locked eyes with me. "Where did you come from? How did someone brought for aid wind up leading us in combat? How did you fight like that?" I told our whole story as Outset came into view and we finally touched down on the water. When it was over Shiek spoke fiercely. "I will go with you. We will all three see this temple, stop this Ganondorf."  
  
Before I could argue, a bell rang out. The signal for the funeral.  
  
"We gather to mourn the fall of five courageous warriors. They did not shirk from duty, they did not fear over their own safety." Slowly the bodies were carried to the edge and lowered into the depths as Zelda spoke on.  
  
"Our friends, our people, fellow warriors. . ."  
  
"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten." 


	16. Part 16

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter XLVIII: Separated  
  
(Link)  
  
Zelda was gone from me.  
  
The door was closed. Nothing I could do would open it. My knuckles were raw. Carvings lay at my feet, shaved off from the striking of my sword. My voice was hoarse from yelling every imaginable promise, threat, or password. Now I sat staring at the door. Every attempt and failure pushed me to one certainty, until I knew all else was futile.  
  
I had to use it.  
  
Remembering the Poe that was trapped still, a memory suddenly came to mind, telling ghost stories one night at Roc's Island, and all at once, I was six years old, back under the star-strewn night sky, sitting further from the fire than everyone else because Meena couldn't stand the heat. Han, the village blacksmith, was telling one of his always sought after stories.  
  
- - - "The boy fearlessly walked into the cemetery, a tiny, closed in place with high walls that stretched over him as if ready to close in. But he didn't care. The gravekeeper was messing about, but when the boy pushed a tombstone to challenge the ghosts of the graveyard, he didn't notice. He just kept singing.  
  
"'What's gonna come out?  
What's gonna come out?  
When I start digging,  
We'll sure find out!'  
  
"With a massive shove of disproportionate strength the boy moved the tombstone and out came the biggest ghost in the ghosty world. One with massive, sharp teeth! A lantern of burning fire that will drown your soul in anguish! And a rather nasty rash.  
  
"A Poe.  
  
"The boy drew his sword and locked eyes with the Poe, but it did no good. The Poe disappeared with a snorty giggle. All he could see was her lantern, glowing in the shadowy darkness like a fallen star. But he hadn't come to be defeated. He knew what to do. As she spun closer, he blocked her with his shield and with a might battlecry and a swing of his sword that shook the air with thunderous noises, the Poe was struck down and defeated, her lantern breaking.  
  
She became but a little drop of flame then, and the boy caught her in a bottle. Drinking the Poe down in one gulp he belched and cried out to the cemetery walls and the shuffling gravekeeper, who had been knocked over in the excitement.  
  
"'So refreshing! That stuff's so addicting!'" - - -  
  
I knew what to do with the Poe when it was free, but how to purge it out of my system? And then I had it. I should have seen it coming, when I'd had magic added to my schooling back home. My father had been training me for the day Ganondorf would come for his "apprentice". It hadn't been much. Aside from Roc, who had kept to himself, nobody on the island knew much about it, including my father.  
  
But if it worked. . .  
  
Without another thought, I tapped into the Triforce of Courage.  
  
(Edgar)  
  
Release! Finally free of being tied to the Triforce.  
  
I smelled a rat. Something wasn't right. A strange door covered with familiar shapes stood directly before me. I very cautiously took a step towards it. I looked back and saw my hometown, Kakariko, and began to run towards it. And by back was overcome by a chilling pain that drew icy tendrils across my body.  
  
Unlike before, two swords were strapped to my back. I reached around and ripped them off. One came easily but the other stuck to my hand, frozen fast. Desperately I tore, and ripped off frostbitten skin.  
  
My back returned to normal instantly, my fingers healed, leaving only a couple of scars and a nasty itch.  
  
Scratching absentmindedly, I approached the sword. It had a blue hilt and a full Triforce on the blade. I'd only seen it once, but that was enough. The Master Sword.  
  
Suddenly I was sprawling bodiless, a Poe once again. I turned and Link grinned at me, picking up his swords and beckoning.  
  
"But how. . .?" I asked.  
  
"The sword. Evil cannot wield it. You were evicted by the good within."  
  
Angrily I charged, but it was no good. I soon found myself trapped within a bottle that smelled of soup, an old Shiekah recipe.  
  
Link held the bottle up to his face, still grinning. "Bottom's up!"  
  
Chapter XLIX: The Girl without a Face  
  
(Fado)  
  
When I returned my vision to normal, there stood before me an old man nearly ten feet tall. The transparent pirate bellowed with a voice like muffled thunder when he spoke, and always, always, hatred radiated from him in a way I hadn't felt since I'd battled Ganondorf all those years ago. Or at least, what seemed years.  
  
"Be you a fool or a madman, setting foot on board our ship?"  
  
Wearing my customary grin, I spoke cheerfully. "I've been called both in my time, good sir. Which are you?"  
  
"-Do not mock me!-" he roared, then spoke more quietly. "Who are you? Who do you say you are?"  
  
"I am Fado, warrior-sage. I've already given you a warning, but out of kindness I'll give another. It is very much in your best interest to let my friend and I go."  
  
"Let you go? It has been some time since we had a fresh visitor. You are aboard the first ship to sink on this young Sea. Besides, an impudent, foolish madman like you has lessons to learn. Rough lessons."  
  
Without warning I went spinning into the air and was flung against a wall. I stuck my staff out at the last minute and rebounded back to the floor. "I think it is you with lessons to learn. Lesson one: Don't mess with a sage."  
  
I charged forward with my staff held out and leapt into the air. . .  
  
. . .and landed against the far wall after passing through the ghost's foggy body. The man's expansive laughter cut through the air. Perfect. "Lesson number two: Don't get distracted by what seems to be a mistake." Taking advantage of his laughter, I dropped my staff to the wooden floor below and sent a row of green orbs into his chest.  
  
He fell backward against the door and went right through it, then began to fall through the floor when he caught himself and swung back up to his feet. "You'll pay for that one, boy. Here's a lesson for you: never drop your weapon."  
  
Without warning I was plucked from the wall and slammed against it. Over and over again, rolling, I struck the plain walls of the large room. I sent a blast of wind at it and flew to the floor, sweeping up my staff as I went.  
  
The voice of the old pirate seemed strained as he spoke again. "You can't win. Just give up. No more of this. It's time to teach you the way of pain. Much like we did all those years ago. . ."  
  
And the room was gone. Everything vanished and I was left in darkness. Before I could do anything, I was pulled downward. My stomach lurched, making a stab at leaving. I could have fallen for an eternity, or a single second, but I wound up in worn, tattered leather chair, storage boxes towering over me. A blinding lantern made it easy to see where I was, but my brain couldn't seem to focus. Too much. Too much too take in.  
  
It wasn't long before a new pirate was obviously on his way, pulling a wheeled tray that squeaked ever louder as it grew closer, grating into my mind. He came into the light and I saw a tiny man dressed as raggedly as the rest, this one wearing shattered glasses that cast eerie reflections across everything, including the rusty tray he bore. I tried to get up but found I was strapped in.  
  
The ghost smiled as he reached me, a horrible, depraved grin that held no joy free of willful, overbearing malice. "Are you ready for your operation?"  
  
(Mako)  
  
I expected to get paint on my face. I expected to see my work ruined. I expected to need an angry comment ready.  
  
What I expected didn't happen.  
  
The world of the painting grew, wrapping around me, the blurry, imperfect land becoming more realistic.  
  
I stood amidst a sea of violet color and realized that it hadn't been flower choked grass, but simply purple grass. A cool breeze wafted through the air, shaking the leaves of trees that floated three feet above the ground. Spreading outward from where the trunks terminated was a cover of dirt that spread out four feet but came in and tapered to a point so that they looked vaguely like pinecones.  
  
Something about it all looked vaguely familiar, as if I'd seen it in a dream. Perhaps that was where it had come from it. I didn't know. I hadn't told Fado or Holly, but some of my memories hadn't come back they'd rescued me, and it certainly wasn't from the long stream of dreams I had after I told my story on that tiny island.  
  
You've already heard my description of this world, so you know what's left. A green sky. But something was odd. There were very strange clouds I hadn't noticed before. They seemed to burst into the air from some point in space. You could be looking at an empty sky one minute and then with a quiet whoosh of noise, there one would be, puffy and white.  
  
My eyes roved to the rounded, egg shaped mountains and the welcomely normal sight of the village. There was no sun. I wouldn't find out why for some time.  
  
What my eyes set on next was something that haunted my nightmares for some time. The girl from the painting was standing ten feet away.  
  
And she had no face.  
  
Red-gold hair shimmered in the odd, green light. As I'd combined aspects of Holly and the ghost girl, she had aspects of both. Holly's tan skin and preference for going barefoot, and the other girl's apron and dress. But where eyes, nose, mouth, and ears should have been, only smooth flesh sat.  
  
I don't know how she spoke, but simply hearing the girl's voice sent shivers up my spine. "Hello sir, how are you?" She walked forward to me and I stepped back, hands shivering.  
  
"Stay-stay back. Go a-a-away." I don't know how my staff got there with me, but it was resting on the grass so I picked it up.  
  
"What's the matter? Is something wrong? You must come with me. Everyone will be very pleased to meet the Maker."  
  
The thought of a village of faceless men, women and children did nothing to assuage my terror. "Why-what-where is your face?" I asked.  
  
She cocked her head, confused. "Why would you ask that, my Maker? You know we cannot have faces until you are ready to give them." She walked closer still. "Are you ill, why do your hands shake so?"  
  
Thrown into a new world, meeting people that made no anatomical sense, and being seen as something I wasn't would normally be easy to handle. For Fado. But I'd been throw into it. And I had to find a way to deal with it. Finally I found the words I needed.  
  
"I'm not your Maker. I didn't mean to create any of this. I didn't realized what I was doing, and I definitely didn't plan on coming here."  
  
"Don't be silly. I won't take no for an answer. Come with me." She grabbed my hand before I could stop her, and began dragging me to the little town. These people were expecting me to give them faces? How in the world could I do that?  
  
Chapter L: "Make Wisdom Yours."  
  
(Laruto)  
  
I awoke in someone else's body. Someone a little taller, and with no head fin, which are an uncommon trait among Zora.  
  
From what I could tell, I was in the massive front hall of a castle. Everything was clean and white. Winding staircases led up and down, and right behind me was an enormous fountain, with a statue of the well-known visage of the Hero of Time. Before me was a closed drawbridge leading to the outside world.  
  
I still had my weariness, the attrition on a body that had been through too much.  
  
So this person was going through trials as well. Around me I noticed a few others. Two women, Hylian, and what I thought might be a Goron. The history books at Greatfish were fuzzy on their appearance. No Zora alive had ever laid eyes on one.  
  
-No Zora that used to be alive-, I corrected myself.  
  
Suddenly I felt the names of the three whispered into my head.  
  
-Nabooru-  
  
-Impa-  
  
-Darunia-  
  
Darunia, the possible Goron, was pulling a chain, the large, brown, rocky skinned creature's muscles straining. Impa and Nabooru, one tall with short silver-white hair and light armor, the other with flowing red hair wearing strange, baggy pants, a vest, and the belts for the two broad scimitars that were strapped to her back, were both looking through spaces in a massive, boarded up window. Every few minutes one would call out, sharing with Darunia what was going on.  
  
At the moment, Impa was speaking. She had a strange accent, her voice quiet, probably marking a woman who talked very little. "The moat seems to be giving them trouble, as the Majorai can't seem to survive in water. The bomb flowers are also helping, but I do not think either will hold for long."  
  
"The drawbridge is secure," Darunia responded with a deep, bass voice. "I wish them luck trying to get to it! I just hope my people can hold on to Death Mountain for a little longer."  
  
"I'm sure they will," Nabooru said. "Ruto, you've been awfully quiet. Almost finished?"  
  
Ruto? That had to be me. Despite the size of the massive foyer, we were the only four around. The name struck a bell. I remembered asking my mother years ago where my name came from. -"It's a combination of Laru, the Prince of Torrents, and Ruto, the mother of our people."-  
  
There had been many girls named Ruto back home, so hearing a Zora called it wasn't surprising, but how many in the days when castles still stood. Such buildings were only found in history books now. "RUTO! What's going on?" I was shoved back to the moment. All three of them were standing just a few feet away, faces creased with concern. I had to find words fast.  
  
"I just drifted off. Sorry."  
  
Nabooru nodded apologetically. "Worried about your family? And your people? I am too. We can only pray that this horror will end, that Link will return from his quest and end this madness."  
  
From one of the staircases a conversation burst drifted down the hall, turning attention from me at the best possible time. I breathed a hopefully unnoticed sigh of relief as two men with white hair came into view. One, a short, overweight Hylian man, bore a heavy, grave manner and wore yellow robes. The other was also somewhat short, but was thinner and more heavily muscled and wore a long red robe and crown. And what was far more eye- catching, he had the Wind Waker tucked into his belt.  
  
The more richly dressed man had been yelling. "I will not give in to the reckless hate of that barbarous fiend! My daughter, the Hero of Time, the Shiekah, we must have faith in them."  
  
The other man said something quietly, and both turned,  
  
-Rauru-  
  
-Daphnes Nohannson Hyrule, King of the Kingdom-  
  
"Any change?" Rauru asked as they neared.  
  
"No. They're holding for now. I don't know how long it will last, though." Impa said, curtly, soldier-like. A massive thump sent everyone to the window. And I got my first peak at the outside world. A storm was obviously brewing overhead. Veins of lightning were draped across a night sky, joined with the massive drumbeat of intense thunder.  
  
But what was on the ground was far more eye-catching. Amidst the wreckage of a village stood a. . .creature. Vaguely heart shaped, with thick arms and legs, at least thirty feet tall. Running all over the wreckage, the monster, the yard before the castle, were hundreds of tiny mirror images to the first monster, about Laruto height.  
  
A little girl with green hair suddenly dropped from the ceiling. Wise eyes that spoke of age far greater than appearances suggested were tightened in fear. "They've got a dragon on the way. We will soon be open to attack."  
  
-Saria-  
  
Another girl, possessing hair similar to the first if darker and longer, and with younger eyes and a thinner face suddenly appeared, coming from a nearby door out of breath. She was crying, she spoke when Saria ran to hug her, and her words were gasped out between sobs. "Saria! Saria! I've done it. I prayed on the rooftop, and now something terrible is going to happen! I-" She broke off, overcome, as a the patter of rain reached us from the ceiling.  
  
The drawbridge burst open before we could process this information, and wide nostrils and blade-sharp teeth pressed their way into the opening. Foul clouds of purple and red smoke pressed into the room and I felt my heart beat with terror as the creature, with its masses of jutting veins and deep red skin, began to press its way in.  
  
-Majora's Servant-  
  
Someone screamed, and I heard a roar of anger from behind me, and then for just a single second, all went dark. In that flash, everyone disappeared, including the dragon. I'd experienced a fragment of the past, I knew, but it was over. I was just dreaming now. And back in my own body.  
  
I walked to the jagged opening where the dragon had pressed its attack and instead of the landscape I'd seen out of the window, a long tunnel stretched before me. I stepped into it and was swept into a whirlwind of pictures and sounds.  
  
As I sped to some distant point at the end, I heard a voice speak. "This, my friends, is the Wind Waker." I saw only a flash of a man enshrouded in white armor with an eye on his chest before the next image came.  
  
"In the darkness, bring the light." A boat with the head of a lion.  
  
"It ends." A boy dressed in the green of the two girls I'd seen earlier, only taller and wielding two swords.  
  
"Gods of the Triforce! Hear that which I desire! Hope! I desire hope for these children! Give them a future! Wash away this ancient land of Hyrule! Let a ray of hope shine on the future of the world!!!" The king I'd seen before, older, heavier, grasping a complete Triforce as it floated in the air.  
  
"Relax, and let things come as they will. Worry'll only get you gray hair." A boy with an immense smile and eyes that seemed to electrify the girl he spoke with to believe his words.  
  
"My magic is strong now." The younger green-haired girl facing an army of strange creatures with a skeleton at her side.  
  
"These are the legends of the Waker. . ." A very strange, treelike creature that radiated madness.  
  
"Someday. . .When this seal is broken. . .That is when I will exterminate your descendants!! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand. . ." Ganondorf falling into nothingness.  
  
"I've seen true despair, and I've washed my hands of it. I am fearless now." Medli.  
  
When I finally reached the end of the tunnel, I was in a round room, as if someone had come along and blown into it, puffing it into a perfectly spherical shape. It had the feel of and look of a throne room. Indeed, floating in the center of the room was a woman on a throne. Long gray hair swept over the back of her chair, dangling in midair.  
  
Though no voice whispered her name, I knew somehow that this was Zelda.  
  
Her head was bowed onto her knees and her hands clasped, as though she were in prayer. She lifted up her face to me, and powerful blue eyes with depth and void bored into me. And she spoke. Her voice light but commanding.  
  
"Make wisdom yours, Laruto my child."  
  
She opened her clasped hands to reveal a shard of the Triforce. The Triforce of Wisdom?  
  
A glint of illumination struck the incredible object and grew to a wave of light that washed over me and sent me back into full sleep. 


	17. Part 17

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter LI: Song  
  
(Link)  
  
I stood before the door, ready. I didn't know what would be on the other side. I expected a hive, but I couldn't be sure. I held up the Triforce and tapped into the power it held. Instead of a beam of light, however, I spoke.  
  
"T'ira nown no' naw tolo'vek." The words escaped as an angry, guttural, scream. The intricate doors blew open slamming, and I charged forward, swords drawn.  
  
Into an empty cave.  
  
I stood on the lip of an oval shaped walkway, that dipped down to another, jutting from the stone of this one. After, this, the ground simply opened up. Through the darkness far below, I thought I could see flashes of fire, but it was too far for me to see. In the center of this opening, a dome shaped building stood atop a pillar, with a rope bridge stretching from the stone walkway out to it.  
  
I turned away from it and looked around my area. The walls were covered in pictures of rounded, brown creatures that had to be Gorons. One wall was covered in carvings, each one about two feet wide and one foot tall, telling a story with tiled images. I could see some about the Hero and about the Rain.  
  
A clawing pain hit me and I new Zelda had been hurt.  
  
I had to find her.  
  
I wished I could be there for her. Frustration at her pain clouded my thoughts for a moment, and out of nowhere came another memory. But this one seemed pushed, bubbling up. I tried to ignore it to think of a plan, but couldn't. One of the few good memories I had of my father, he was singing about my mother an old song. After she'd died when I was thirteen, he'd stopped singing it, but I could still remember the first verse, and without thinking, began to sing.  
  
"My love is captured, caught, held,  
by the one with oceans of blue in her eyes,"  
  
I sang calmly, and hoped the calm would reach her. I decided to check out the dome, and flew down to the bridge.  
  
"With her live and mine together to meld  
forever I'll rest forever under any skies,"  
  
I landed on the bridge and swerved immediately. A scratching noise against the rock had been behind me. Hand on my sword, I stepped into the dome quietly. A giant statue stood against the far wall, a Goron holding a spear, it seemed. The Gorons had lived near the surface, hadn't they? What could have caused such a massive shift? Trisyrt's red eyes blazed into my mind. Perhaps 'Darunia' had something to do with it.  
  
More pain from Zelda. Enough looking around! I had to find her. I rushed from the room a single whisper escaped my throat.  
  
"Be patient, my love."  
  
For in front of me were hundreds of red spiders. Pulling both swords and spinning them vertically a few times, I charged.  
  
i Tektites /i  
  
I leapt, spun in midair and struck.  
  
Fly, fall, attack. A Tektite would drop. I was a moving whirlwind edged with steel. Every once in awhile my boots would strike the wooden planks, out of 'flight breath,' I would fight from the ground. A belly cleaved open, a leg removed, still they came, seemingly eager to taste death, because I would not be stopped.  
  
Zelda was gone from me, in pain, and imprisoned.  
  
I would not be stopped.  
  
"Is that all there is?" I screamed as I drove through the last Tektite and it burst open. "Is that all you've got?" I dropped to my knees from exhaustion.  
  
"No. There's me." I looked up. Standing on the edge of the bridge, sword in hand, was Trisyrt. His eyes were normal again  
  
"Alright," I said, "I'll kill you too. I hope everyone learns something from all this."  
  
Without speaking, Trisyrt pointed his sword at me. A jagged blast of lighting struck into my body and knocked me over the rope and down to the blackness below.  
  
(Trisyrt)  
  
I was dropped like a puppet.  
  
Darunia didn't need me anymore, and left my body. I hated being used so, but with Griman killed by the girl, it was left up to me. He'd been manipulating Kiro again. He was a weak, flawed man. Flawed by compassion, and some thought him slightly mad as well. His family had been in charge of Kakarikan affairs since his distant ancestor had led our people in the time of confusion when the rain came.  
  
Now the boy we'd buried had survived somehow. I'd been following Griman's lead then, since Darunia always used him. I couldn't figure out why the two from Above were so important, but we'd been instructed to watch out for them. Rost, who had been the third member of our group, had died trying to stop him.  
  
Griman inflamed the crowd against the boy, making it easy to get rid of him.  
  
But he'd come back. The Bellen-Der, a fell race made slave to the Gorons, had already taken the girl. The boy was fast on her trail. He was dangerous. I sensed a wild unpredictability about him. I never learned their names, and so I came to call them Hero and Princess, as the air about them suggested.  
  
I ran through the streets of the city and into the open area between it and the door. The bodies of Bellen-Der were everywhere, a few still twitching.  
  
The Gorons kept a seal on the entry to keep away from the rest of us. They had their secrets. They hated for anyone to see what their caves were like. Whenever communication had been necessary, armed legions of Gorons would line either side of the door, which was impenetrable to all means except magic.  
  
I knew it wasn't a good sign that the doorway was open. Hero was already inside. I spoke the closing words and raced for the bridge, a central location where I might be able to spot him.  
  
"Kla'rin ya wl'u chak." i Make these doors to shut. /i I let the ancient Goron tongue howl out the words and turned to see a massacre in movement.  
  
Tektites, known as rock-spiders to the Gorons, had attacked Hero, but he was a study beating odds. It didn't matter how many charged him. As I watched, he sliced one apart, dove at another, leapt beneath the bridge, grabbed a rope on the other side, and flung himself into a crowd of them, taking out a dozen at once.  
  
It wasn't long before he'd taken them all. No wonder so many had died bringing in Princess. As he dropped to his knees I knew now was my only chance. There was only one thing I could do. I'd been saving it, and now was the time.  
  
I attached a lighting stick to my sword. There were only a few in existence, as they came from Above. I'd stolen mine from Kiro.  
  
He was yelling something when I stepped forward. "Is that all you've got?"  
  
"No. There's me."  
  
Chapter LII: The Way of Pain  
  
(Fado)  
  
Muffled dread clutched my body as I thrashed in the chair, the cold leather pressing into my bare lower legs. Wind blasted around futilely, Orbs blasted holes into the floor, but my hands were at no good angle for me to free myself. Every trick I knew, every ability, I drug up as I struggled to free myself. All useless.  
  
I was at their mercy.  
  
The whole while, the ghost continued to polish away at his knife, seemingly oblivious to my cries and struggles. Finally I looked up at him. "What are you going to do to me?" I wasn't afraid, really. That was something that happened to other people. I just wanted to know what was going to happen to me.  
  
"Jam this 'ere knife inta yer eye. Then when the pain settles down a bit I'll go and stick the other one. The Cap'n has something special 'e does after that, but don't ask me what. He don' let us pirates see it."  
  
And then, without pausing any further to see if I had any objections, he stabbed my right eye.  
  
(Mako)  
  
I forced my hand out of Faceless's grip and she stopped to yell angrily, but her words were cut off by a howling call that that picked me up from the purple grass and threw me into a sea of ice.  
  
"Marauders," Faceless whispered, as though uttering a curse under breath.  
  
Over a rolling hill came dozens of raggedly dressed men with strange gray skin that was no less tattered. The fact that they had faces was such a relief I had to struggle to see them as a threat. They wore fur that matched that of the dogs running beside them, roughly one to a man.  
  
Grimly I picked up my staff. A sage's work was never over. "You're going to fight them?" Faceless asked incredulously.  
  
"Heck no." I said, turning and running into the floating forest.  
  
I climbed up one of the trees with the practiced grace of a Kokiri. Faceless leapt beside me and spoke worriedly. "I don't know if this is a good idea. It's almost time for Migration Seven."  
  
It wasn't long before I found out what she meant. The trees began to move.  
  
Towards the Marauders.  
  
Arrows thudded the trees around us as the ragged band sought out our position while trying to hold on for themselves. The scenery flashed by with increasing speed, and I began to wonder if I would ever be home again.  
  
Suddenly our tree wrenched and I went out of the tree. My stomach lurched as I saw the bizarre landscape twist and then I snatched the dirt ring around the tree. Dogs leapt at my feet, snarling and snapping, and I saw that the creatures were really an odd sort of furry reptile.  
  
Dirt crumbled beneath my fingers and I fell to the ground. I'd left my staff in the dirt and snatched it as I went down, but I couldn't see it doing any good.  
  
Before I could think, they were on me. I tried to remember something, anything, he had taught me, but I hated this. I wasn't a warrior like he was. I didn't want to fight. I had begun jabbing out with my weapon when a tree came right overhead. When the reptile-dogs pounced, I was gone.  
  
My heart was already trying to leap from my throat, and I wasn't free yet. Half the trees were crawling the raiders. Faceless could already be dead.  
  
An arrow buzzed past my face and I looked around, trying to spot the man, but now I could see them everywhere. I was about to become a pine fruit, stabbed full of needles.  
  
The upper boughs of the tree provided some safety, but I knew this couldn't go on.  
  
I felt the trees slowing down and clutched to a branch. They stopped abruptly and I could hear screams and shouts as the trees lost many of their passengers.  
  
"Hey you!" I called out. "Still around?" I didn't want anything to do with Faceless, but she was the only friendly face around. . .so to speak. She called back and I made my way over to her tree as the Marauders got their bearings.  
  
I stopped, curious. Where were we? I climbed to the top of the tree I was in and looked around.  
  
We were at the foot of the rounded mountains. I only had a vague idea of what mountains were, but I knew they didn't look like this. They were snowcapped and made of rock as these were, but the perfectly smooth slope didn't seem fitting. A cloud burst into existence while I watched. There were no foothills, either, just handful of them jutting into the sky.  
  
And then as I watched, one of them began to crack.  
  
Chapter LIII: Aftermath  
  
(Laruto)  
  
I came awake slowly, with morning sunlight drifting over my face. Yesterday had been very long. Funerals, with the dead placed in boats made from rubble and cast into the wind, working at building makeshift houses, caring for survivors. Medli and I had been given the first doses of soup available, and soon after the work had begun.  
  
It had been Medli who spotted Burt. A buzzing cloud of flies had given his position away, and now I had two Deku, Shiek, and Medli planning to come. But they were all going to be disappointed.  
  
I had decided to go alone from here.  
  
Medli needed to fix things with her mother and go home. Shiek belonged here. As soon as possible, I planned to slip away. I didn't need a boat. It wasn't to far, and as soon as I could, I would swim away to the temple.  
  
i "Make wisdom yours." /i  
  
The strange dream came back to me in perfect clarity. I needed the Triforce of Wisdom. I would have to get it before I snuck out. I was sure Zelda would understand, all I had to do was explain.  
  
I had curled in the sand near an outcropping of rock by the shore. I soon saw Medli wondering along the beach. She spotted me and her features lit up in a grin. She had been strangely cheerful lately. The normally timid girl wasn't acting like herself.  
  
"Hey Laruto! Good morning! Sleep well?"  
  
"I slept alright," I said, omitting mention of the dream. "How about you? Where'd you sleep?"  
  
"Up in the tower. Shiek, Knoll, Zelda and I worked on it last night and slept in it when we were finished. It's pretty sturdy. I'll bet that thing will stand for another hundred years!" She lowered her voice. "When are we leaving? Shiek and Knoll are set on coming, and I'm sure you don't want them to get involved in this."  
  
It twisted me to lie to her, but she would never agree to stay, and I didn't know what else to do. I guess I'll never know whether I was right or not.  
  
"I think we should rest up for a few days, and then head out."  
  
I told Medli I needed to speak with Zelda and rushed off before she could ask what for. I found the pirate captain eating breakfast with her crew further down the beach. A few of them were telling Shiek and three village children an outrageous story about a battle with a squid.  
  
I took her aside when a few of the kids gasped and we spoke in private in the shadow of the ship. I told Zelda about the dream, and my need to go alone from here on my quest. I was sure she'd identify with what I was saying, give me the Triforce, and let me go.  
  
I was wrong.  
  
"I can't send you out all by yourself. What about poor Medli? Hasn't she been traveling with you from the begging? Here's the deal. The Triforce can come with you, but it stays with me. I'll give it to you on arrival. My ship will make the journey with ease."  
  
She grinned and slapped a nearby plank. The figurehead, three boards, and the steering wheel fell off. Something crashed loudly deep within the bowels of the ship, and it settled slightly in the sand towards us.  
  
"She's seen a bit of action, eh? We might have to make a few minor running repairs." 


	18. Part 18

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter LIV: Numb  
  
(Link)  
  
The scattered fires below spun into lines as I fell, my body a useless cavity, streaks of blue still clinging tightly to my skin and jolting my unfeeling body with temporary bubbles of sensation.  
  
I struggled all the while to fly and didn't succeed until I was mere inches from the rock. I landed and looked around, wondering where I was.  
  
Bellen-Der were scattered everywhere, dancing about and moving through the fires, wings flapping moistly and voices calling softly. I was surprised that I hadn't notice them earlier. Far, far above me, I could see the bridge, and make out the figure of Trisyrt, staring down.  
  
A harsh voice bellowed out strange words from somewhere in the dark and I turned, but saw nothing, though the Bellen-Der were now gathering to my left, what I guessed vaguely should be to the north.  
  
Where could I go now? Amidst what could have dozens or hundreds of Bellen-Der I might find my death. Trisyrt had to know where Zelda is. Quietly I hopped upward and flew as fast as I could. In a blur of movement I was surrounded by flashing wings and whirling scythes legs. Before I needed to react, the course voice roared again and they were gone.  
  
The boards rattled and swayed when I landed. Trisyrt was simply sitting cross-legged on the decking towards the walkway. I drew both swords and charged.  
  
A blinding whirlwind blasted me off my feet and sent me rolling head over heels back towards the dome room. A self satisfied half-smile worked across Trisyrt's face but his eyes were tightly shut.  
  
I stood against the driving winds and struggled to move. Their existence seemed dependant on his concentration. I tried to draw a sword and swipe at the rope, but it was driven away till it clinked against the stone wall of the dome. I dropped to the floor and crawled, holding my right arm out rigid with my sword pointing outward, sticking away from the bridge, and soon bumped into a rope.  
  
After a few minutes and a few cut ropes, Trisyrt began to realize his wind blast wasn't working.  
  
Too late.  
  
With one last cut, the bridge lurched forward, shoving both of us into the darkness.  
  
Of course I didn't fall. My only task was to keep the same from happening to my enemy. I needed him.  
  
I peered through the darkness and began to panic. I didn't have much time, and I couldn't find him. There! I dove, hurtling like an arrow and swept him up just in time for both of us to hurtle into the ground.  
  
Immediately we were on our feet, swords drawn and clashing. But he was out of breath. Trisyrt didn't last long, and soon he was on his knees, my blade's edge at his throat.  
  
"Tell me where Zelda is quickly. My blade is not a tolerant thing."  
  
His eyes burned suddenly with a deep crimson and he spoke with a different voice. It had Trisyrt's voice, but spoke with a completely different air. It didn't speak with my former opponent's confidant nonchalance, but dripped with undisguised hatred.  
  
"I see you've bested my warrior in combat. I don't think you'll kill young Trisyrt just yet, however. I still have use for him, and what I have use for I don't give up lightly. It would be unfortunate for both of us to lose someone unnecessarily. You don't want that. . .do you?"  
  
The scarlet-eyed man stood and pushed my blade away contemptuously. Before his eyes faded to their usual intense green, he spoke one last time. "Follow my boy here into darkness if you dare, young fool. If you refuse, the girl dies."  
  
Chapter LV: Blind  
  
(Fado)  
  
The shock almost killed me.  
  
I jerked and spasmed against my restraints so hard one of them snapped. I could feel liquid pouring down my face, tasted something sticky and metallic against my lip.  
  
I can't describe the pain. Not really. Unless you get your eye stabbed, you'll never know. Phantom sight crossed over it and my squeezed shut left eye. Could I see the ghost? Could I see the blood pouring everywhere? The knife that kept my eyelid from closing? Wailing and screaming, I struggled to gain a comprehensive thought, but everything slid away from me. It flashed into my mind that knife shouldn't be inside me. With twitching fingers, I ripped it out.  
  
Big mistake.  
  
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" I screamed again, and again. Where was the ghost? He surely wasn't finished. All I wanted now was to drift away. . .sleep.  
  
No! I tore a strip from my tunic and made a bandage for my eye. Looked around, panic throbbing in my chest. I saw a glint of silver in the lantern light and gave a gasp of raw terror. Not again, no please no. Not again.  
  
The last thing I ever saw with my own sight was an evil yellowed grin.  
  
When I was able to function again, I pulled my bandage over my other eye as well and activated my wind sight. There was the ghost, a luminescent purple. I made orbs in both hands and charged forward with a scream, ignoring the powerful, throbbing pain.  
  
He disappeared into a cloud of lavender smoke, and I turned as a booming laugh echoed through the walls of the ship.  
  
"You're more powerful than I gave you credit for, Fado Warrior-Sage. If you'd like your wound staunched, come to the next room." A nearby door behind the chair and a stack of crates creaked open. I sighed and walked through without looking back.  
  
(Holly)  
  
I stood on the deck of a massive ship. No sign of my friends. I'd made a potion to find those with blood like mine. With only three Kokiri in the world, it had to take me to at least one of my friends. I called out to Fado and then Mako but got no answer.  
  
Shifting the sword strapped to my back, I began to look around. I brushed my fingers through the blond bush that my hair had become. I'd been pulled here. One second on the beach, the next I was wind-blasted on the deck of a ship.  
  
I heard a boy screaming and recognized Fado's voice. He was in horrible pain. But I didn't know where to go. It had come from somewhere beneath my feet. I pulled a potion from my belt and poured it over myself. It was dangerous, but I was willing to take the risk.  
  
My body melted like Baba jelly and I slid right between the tiny cracks in the wood. A Chu potion I'd made at Dragon Roost, it could give anyone their consistency. I plopped flat and inconsistent into a galley. I could hear a voice singing and food being chopped, as well as see knives rise and fall and a barrel rolling on its own, but no people. Another cry pierced me and I searched for a place to go.  
  
The floor was so tight here it was some time before I found a mouse hole. I heard a squeak as I entered, but ignored it, intent on finding Fado. Following the tiny, dark tunnel, I came out on the floor of a room filled with boxes. A chair sat off to the right, with broken straps.  
  
And blood.  
  
Blood everywhere.  
  
I sobbed at the sight of it. The area was stained with the mixed, reddish-purple blood of a Kokiri.  
  
The potion was wearing off. I was slowly becoming more solid. I stood up on wobbly, legs, my arms hanging loosely at my sides, and coughed up a rat. The squeak had been the animal getting caught.  
  
"Ima gun voma." I rapsed, my vocal cords still inconsistent. I was very glad I'd used all that particular potion.  
  
I noticed a door nearby and heard noises through it. I ran as fast as I could, organs arranging themselves in their proper places, hair strangely wet but at least smooth again.  
  
Nothing prepared me for what I saw. Or heard. Fado was playing his cello at his neck like a violin. A beautiful tune swam through the air, bringing a smile to lips unused to the action.  
  
In a plain, round room with strange, bright green walls stood of course Fado. Next to him a giant man in pirate's garb was reeling as if being struck. His transparent face blackened here and there with what looked like bruises.  
  
Fado turned to me and grinned. I gave a start when I saw that his eyes were solid black orbs.  
  
Chapter LVI: Sacrifice  
  
(Laruto)  
  
The sound of busy hammers and ruffling sails overrode the cresting waves as the ship made the easy journey to our goal. It was so close now. I'd been there once before, a broken wreck then.  
  
Shiek, Medli and I were the only ones with nothing to do. Cufell was busily making a fresh quiver of arrows. Walking the deck, I'd been lost in though, thinking of Fado. When the Great Deku Tree had mentioned his name, a faint memory had stirred, just out of grasp. I remembered an old children's tale about a boy from the forest who went on a journey died somewhere in the northern reaches of the ocean. But how did my people know about him?  
  
-"It has been centuries since I sent little Fado to his death."- He'd been a sage on a quest, just like me. And Ganondorf had, according to the Deku Tree's self admittedly limited information, killed him. Was that my fate? I found I really didn't care. My people were gone. My life meant nothing. It was for the rest of the world that I carried on. So that others might know happiness and peace.  
  
No.  
  
That wasn't my only reason. Vengeance. Ganondorf had committed genocide. I fought back a wave of revulsion and disgust. Giving in to such feelings would be a victory for him. He'd taken small victories like it for centuries, and larger ones too. He wouldn't be happy until his own foul minions ruled everything and all those good and free were bound in unending slavery.  
  
All of these thoughts dragged me back to the same haunting idea. What could a girl of fourteen winters do against such powerful hatred?  
  
The jagged cliffs of Headstone Isle were looming close when Zelda's soft voice called out. "Laruto? Could you come here?"  
  
I went to her and the young captain led me deep below decks, to the very keel of the ship, which she had told me was known as the -Hero's Sword-.  
  
My eyes were drawn instantly to the center of the long, narrow room. There sat a brilliant diamond of glowing silver-blue, shaped like two pyramids stacked on top of each other, one point down, one up. It was at least three feet wide and two feet thick, but I couldn't be sure. Sometimes it seemed too big for the room, sometimes it seemed as though it would fit in my pocket. The source of the blue glow I'd seen during the battle with Gepqa.  
  
Zelda walked towards it, the intricate golden braids of her hair lit in strange tones. "This is the defense my moth-Gepqa spoke of. Hundreds of intricate spells were woven into it to increase her power and to protect her. She ran her fingers along the side of it and stopped them in the center, pressing her palms tightly against the smooth surface. The thing cracked open revealing another, smaller jewel, this one clear with an orb of blue inside. As Zelda pulled it out, several threads unstuck themselves from it.  
  
"The true source of this item's magical power," she said. "The bigger jewel is just an amplifier. As the story goes, this is one of three that the Hero of Time gave the Princess to show he forgave her for something. It's not clear what. They're supposed to have hadsomething to do with the gods. This one was called Nayru's Snot or something. As it is now, all it can do is surround the user with a magic shield. It's yours. I think it will help you."  
  
Before I could reach out and grab it, a short pirate with red hair rushed in and yelled in a panic stained voice. "We got trouble, Cap. A whole wall of sea monsters block our progress. There's no going any further in this direction."  
  
"Tell everybody to hang on! Make sure as much of our gear as possible is secured with rigging or tossed below decks!" The pirate nodded at the strange orders and took off. Zelda turned to me. "I'm going to have to hold on to this for a little longer!" she shouted as she placed the magic device back into its holder. "She's never flown before! Best hold on tight!"  
  
"She did too fly, back at Outset!" I called back. The waves were playing with the boat and tossing us about. A storm seemed to have erupted from nowhere.  
  
"That wasn't flying. That was hovering. This is flying!" she cried as -the Sword- blasted into the air like an arrow from a bow. 


	19. Part 19

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old  
  
Chapter LVII: Of Murder and Torture  
  
(Link)  
  
Hunger, thirst, and fatigue plagued my will as I stumbled after Trisyrt. I hadn't eaten since I'd left the ship, nor drank, and I hadn't slept since the night I'd fallen in love with Zelda, despite the dirt nap I'd taken. Unless you counted falling unconscious for a short time. It was too much. The ghost had refreshed me, but that had only helped so much. How had the Hero of Time survived?  
  
How was I going to survive?  
  
And something else was bothering me. I kept chewing over what had just happened. I didn't like it. They could be leading me into a trap with no intention to let Zelda live. I had to set things straight.  
  
We reached a door much like the one I'd opened earlier, all innate carvings and runes. Trisyrt spoke the same words I'd used, and the door creaked open, much slower than when I'd used them. Before the man could walk through, I grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.  
  
"I need to speak with your master."  
  
"My master will not be bothered will trivial matters. He will speak to you when he so deigns to lower himself."  
  
"If he values your life and his own, he will have to prostrate his rear presently."  
  
A pair of eyes like brilliant rubies and a mocking voice colored Trisyrt into the other person. Darunia? "What is it you require now, O valiant hero?"  
  
"You threatened the life of my love, and by doing so threatened my own life," I growled with fists tight, ready. "Now it is my turn. I hold in my hands the existence of ALL FREE PEOPLE. If you so much as mistreat Zelda with a scratch, an unkind word, a missed meal, I will snuff out you and all Gorons like a sputtering candle flame under a driving downpour. Am..."  
  
"...I..."  
  
"Clear?" I spat out the last word through gritted teeth. Darunia didn't respond. He scowled, relinquished Trisyrt and left. Suddenly as I looked at his face, looking so young for a moment, I realized he wasn't much older than me. Hardness crossed his face, and the thought vanished as he spoke.  
  
"Are you done wasting time?" Trisyrt asked, striding through the door without waiting for an answer or even looking to see if I were following.  
  
Trisyrt called out more words in the Goron tongue without turning and it shut behind me with the same slow yawn it had opened with. We stood in complete darkness now. No fires, torches, or lanterns cut through the blackness. My guide seemed unconcerned, walking from memory and leaving me to stumble after him blindly.  
  
Or so he thought.  
  
The Triforce lit the way, illuminating an arching tunnel about eleven feet apart and six feet high. The pure yellow light was caught and twisted red by long, swirling veins of ruby gems running through the walls. Behind and before, there wasn't much to see. The tunnel went on unchanging for what looked like an eternity. Not wanting to seem dependent on the light, I put it out.  
  
We walked on, and my burdens once again came to tie themselves around my neck. My throat rasped, my stomach grumbled, my legs buckled with weariness. I would soon be in no condition to fight. Trisyrt couldn't be much better.  
  
But he might have food and water. He would never give them to me. I'd have to take them by force. Perhaps I could kill Trisyrt, get what I needed, and run ahead to rescue Zelda. Could I? Really? Could I slide my sword into his back?  
  
Could I murder?  
  
(Zelda)  
  
The Goron city was incredible. Somehow massive deposits of rubies must have been discovered, for nearly every building I saw was made from it. The city was situated in a massive, domed cavern. A ring of massive torches at the roof seemed to serve as a makeshift sun, flooding the area down below with waves of light, which sparked off the brilliant buildings.  
  
The Bellen-Der carried me high over head, now bound by some thin webbing and unable to fight. I was brought to one of the few plain, brickwork buildings and dropped painfully to my knees. A piercing whistle shook the air and my captors took off swiftly. Six massive brown skinned creatures with round bodies, egg shaped heads, stubby legs, and powerful arms came and encircled me, gawking.  
  
Gorons? They struck a vague memory of dealing with very similar creatures before. But they had been merchants. These Gorons wore thick, green body armor laced with more of the ever-present rubies. Each also carried a weapon of some sort. Two carried hammers, one an ax, and the final three bore maces. All red weapons, often glittering in the torchlight. But weren't Gorons a peaceful race?  
  
One of the ancient books my mother had left me described the various races of the once mighty land of Hyrule. It called Gorons a peaceful, brotherly race, though when they spoke I soon saw this tradition was lost.  
  
I had no more than a few seconds for all this to flash through my mind before they began to discuss me.  
  
"She's so thin and small and pale. She must be horribly ill. What could Darunia want with her?"  
  
"What's that brown stuff growing from her head?"  
  
"Look at those arms! I'll bet she can't even lift three hundred!"  
  
The one with the ax put an end to their ponderings with sharp orders. "Stop gawking, fools. She isn't a Goron. She comes from the water-land Above. Take her inside while I report to His Highness." Rough hands lifted me easily into the air. It only took one Goron to carry me. The others milled behind awkwardly. I wondered about their leader, 'His Highness'. Was that Trisyrt? His red eyes bored into me again. He'd seen me and walked on, as if I was no more important than an insect.  
  
After walking through several long corridors, each filled with doors that seemed to lead to even more hallways, we arrived it a jail cell. There were several others lining the wall, each with thick, powerful bars much stronger than necessary for a thin girl of eighteen summers.  
  
As soon as I was untied and thrown in, I reached for my sword. Somewhere I'd lost it. It had to be somewhere outside the first door, when I'd been using it.  
  
I was all but helpless now, entirely dependent on Link to rescue me. Our strange, sudden love was untested. I didn't really know him very well, but I knew he would come.  
  
I was soon fed, a massive bowl and jug placed through a moving flap in the bars that had had to be locked up behind my food because I could crawl through it. The portions were, of course, Goron-sized, and far too much for me, but it was so delicious and well cooked that I wondered if I would be Goron-sized too by the time Link arrived.  
  
But that wasn't an issue for long.  
  
A surprisingly thin Goron wearing the familiar body armor arrived while I was lying back after my meal and wondering where Link was now. If he was thinking about me, if he missed me...I hoped he was okay. He seemed to be good at getting out of tight spots.  
  
Unlike the helm of the other Gorons, which curved to match the shape of their heads, this one was more angular, jutting upward from his thin face. He carried a long whip as well as a spear and a mace. The whip he cracked constantly at the other Gorons, though it did little more to them than bounce off their sturdy hides.  
  
I shuddered at the thought of how much more damage it would to mine.  
  
I was personally yanked out by my now almost waist length hair. He spun me around painfully and held me at arm's length, smiling with a glint of humor and a heavy measure of malice. He spoke with a quiet, rasping voice that was somehow worse than a loud, angry one. This man simply didn't care about me, only his own joy in the creation of suffering.  
  
"Are you ready for your torture? I hope so, because you don't have a choice."  
  
Chapter LVIII: The Search  
  
(Fado)  
  
As I walked through the door, I could see the blood around my eyes as a fading green. Full of life where it spouted from my damaged eyes, but soon dying as it ran out of oxygen. The ghost captain was waiting for me. I pulled up my bandages and looked around. He stood, seemingly taller even than before, an immense pillar. A pillar of red. His body was an outline of it. I couldn't see much else of the room, just a few planks that had known the touch of living beings recently. The rest was darkness. With my limited sight I could only see life and wind.  
  
"Why did you do this?" I asked, trying to control my pain but unable to keep my voice from faltering slightly. "Why no just kill me? What do you get out of this?"  
  
"Be patient. You are going to die. I can't have you seeing your way out to escape, can I? Being stuck on this ship is rather dull. We need music to liven things up. But first, your eyes. On a shelf over there," he said, pointing to my right, "You'll find a bottle. Go get it."  
  
"If I refuse?"  
  
"You'll probably bleed to death, and deprive us of the joy of killing you. That's about it, really. I couldn't care less if you go or don't."  
I walked over to the wall and pressed my palms flat. The whole thing was a blank. I couldn't see this jar anywhere, nor could I see a shelf. I breathed on the wall and a faint yellow outline of wallpaper appeared, covered in a spade pattern. I also spotted the end of a shelf. I leaned towards it and breathed out again, right on a glass bottle that appeared violet.  
  
I grabbed it and the captain spoke again. "Now pour it over your eyes, Faddie-paddie."  
  
I couldn't see the liquid as it poured down, making it impossible to flinch. But I felt the pain, like an acid wash, burning into me. I dropped to my knees, the agony driving more tears and blood from my exhausted eyes  
  
For one moment, I could see again. Blue liquid all over my face, clothes, and the floor. Bright green wallpaper with a silver spade pattern. Even though it was only lit by a small lantern, the light stabbed into me and I was about to squeeze my eyes shut when my sight went away again. But the aching and the flow of blood were gone. I threw off my bandage and it hit the ground with a wet plop.  
  
The captain cupped both hands around his mouth as though he were about to call someone. I shouted wordlessly and he looked down at me. I wasn't going to let losing my sight slow me down. It would serve as a lesson. Never, ever leave yourself at the enemy's mercy. No matter what.  
  
A flicker of intuition struck me. "You wanted music?"  
  
I pulled out my violin and began to play. The Wind God's Aria burst across the room and suddenly the captain reeled as if under a rain of blows. A clear burst flashed outward across the walls and was gone.  
  
I couldn't remember closing the door, but it was creaking open. Holly burst in and I grinned at her. She jumped in shock. Still grinning, I spoke. "Getting your eyes stabbed out isn't as fun as it looks."  
  
(Mako)  
  
Earsplitting noise roared across the plains. The cracking stretched down the mountain, opening it wide. Faceless cried out in panic and I leapt for her tree.  
  
And nearly fell out.  
  
From the middle of her face (or where her face should have been, anyway) a long, green hose was growing that stretched down to a tree branch in front of the one she was perched on. The hose terminated with a wider end like a suction cup.  
  
The trees all around us scattered and left. I couldn't see any sign of the Marauders. Our tree, the only one left, went flying higher into the air. I slipped suddenly and barely managed to grab on to the bottom of another branch, and was hanging over the now distant grass far below.  
  
Gripping the rough bark tightly with sweaty hands, I called out, "What's going on? An earthquake?"  
  
"No! A hatching!" Faceless cried back, her voice somehow muffled.  
  
Then it hit me. The great purplish rounded things weren't mountains.  
  
They were eggs.  
  
A massive crash, louder than anything so far, burst through the air, followed by a high whistling.  
  
A fully formed bird took to the air, too massive to look at all at once. Mountain sized. As it flapped it's wings and sent gushes of air that launched us spinning, I recognized it. Back in the forest, there is a mysterious bird called the Balawi. We don't know where they come from. No eggs or babies had ever been found from the small birds.  
  
I was watching in awe when my wet grip gave way. I was flung air born for a moment and then rushing downward. Too fast. What could I do? Fado would know, but I didn't. My bones would smash. My stomach lurched as the purple grass grew close enough to smell...  
  
And the tree caught me, my legs dangling as I grabbed a branch with my arms. "You should be more careful, Maker," Faceless muttered, still muffled. I breathed a sigh of relief, calmly put myself in a safer position, and vomited over the side of the tree.  
  
I turned my attention back to the green sky. The Balawi bird was flying into it, right where the clouds burst from. Back into my world. And that, I knew, was where I had to go.  
  
Chapter LIX: The New Hero  
  
(Medli)  
  
The ship creaked and groaned as it lifted into the air, much faster than when Gepqa's defense had been activated. I shuddered. That horrible night was still strongly etched in my memory. I'd brushed it all aside. I'd refused even to worry over what happened to my mother. Whatever Laruto might have wanted, I'd been determined to leave without speaking to her once and succeeded completely.  
  
A line of massive, whitish blue squid monsters blocked our path, but I wasn't afraid. I refused to let the fear grip my chest, squeeze my stomach, dizzy my brain.  
  
Or tried to.  
  
Shiek laughed out loud, beside me on the stern (rear, for you non-shiply types) deck, as we rocketed straight for the row of them, and I found myself laughing with him. We were flying, after all. As Laruto would say, this was my world, even with the sky threatening rain. And I was sick of being afraid. I let all my anxieties free with that one releasing laugh. The pirates had tied everyone to the mast with long ropes around the waist, and were now bustling around the cannons, preparing for a battle, though there shouldn't be one. The boat could fly far higher than the monsters should be able to reach.  
  
-Octos-  
  
But it wasn't going more than ten feet higher than the nearest creature, Octo. The ship gave a small start and rose a little upward, but it wasn't enough. A massive, sinewy tentacle stretched out and slapped the starboard side of the ship. It rocked crazily for a moment, sending Shiek and I zooming over the railing to stare down into the waves for a moment before swinging back. Suddenly I heard a rushing of feet. Cufell burst from the lower decks and leapt onto the railing, firing arrows as he ran.  
  
Another tentacle shot out, an ashen whip that wrapped all the way around the center of the ship and began to squeeze. Cannon report boomed through the air and the limb twitched. I could hear hacking swords and flitting arrows from the other side.  
  
The tentacle fell away, leaving wrecked woodwork and injured pirates in its wake, but two more came from either side and wrapped around the middle again.  
  
A low cracking began, growing louder and louder till it grew thunderous, and then the ship was broken, and we were being flung in all directions. I couldn't make out anything but a rain of wooden splinters, small and large. Everything happened so fast; I had soon hit the water. I struggled against my rope, but I was still tied to the mast.  
  
Going under.  
  
(Laruto)  
  
I could see the ship wasn't going high or fast enough. We were going to run right into the Octos! "What's going on?" I called out to Zelda "We're not going to make it!"  
  
"Something's wrong with the amplifier. I-" her last words were cut off by the shattering of the large diamond. Zelda fell backward covered in slashes from the razor sharp fragments. Expecting the ship to fall straightaway, I was surprised when it went higher, but I knew it couldn't last.  
  
The ship groaned as I ran to Zelda, and began checking her wounds. "Take cover," She whispered. "And grab the magic armor. The ship's about to give." Before I could react, the ship snapped in half, sending us tumbling into the water.  
  
Home. The place I belonged. In the water.  
  
I easily spotted the armor, but I couldn't find any sight of Zelda. Others were crying out, for me or someone else, it didn't matter. With the Octos killing everything that came close, and the shore of our island still distant...  
  
It was going to be a long night.  
  
Unfortunately, the scattered lost would have to wait. The monsters had to come down first, or I would have nowhere to put the pirates. The odds hit me staggeringly then. One Zora girl against at least a dozen of these behemoths?  
  
I looked up at the evening sky, storm clouds roiling, their bruised purple color merging strangely with the warm orange of the setting sun. At least there was going to be a downpour. That made the world of air easier to take. But it would make things worse for everyone I would be fighting for.  
  
It was going to be a long night.  
  
(Shiek)  
  
I cut my rope as I fell, using Sasuke's sword. I'd kept my best friend's prized weapon without a second thought, knowing he'd want me to have it. Even though I couldn't use it with any skill. I soon lost sight of Medli, but I knew she had to be close to the mast, with no way to free herself from its weight. She was on her own, however. The mast would float.  
  
It was the others, scattered throughout the sea that worried me. I could see two fins raking the crashing waves and knew Laruto was going to be busy taking out the strange, octopus-like creatures. Somehow, I knew it was time for me to be a hero.  
  
"I'll save you," I whispered, to everyone who was about to become squid food. The impossible task thundered over my head, seemingly out of reach. But as I treaded water, I knew it was true.  
  
"I'll save you all." 


	20. Part 20

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old

Chapter LX: The Rogue Element

(Link)

Fists clenching and releasing.

Dark thoughts swirling around my head, whispering possibilities and temptations.

How far was I willing to go to save Zelda? How far would I be driven to stop Ganondorf?

"_Further than the death of one insignificant man." _ The voices would whisper back.

Before I could contemplate about it any more, Trisyrt dropped to his knees and screamed, "No, Darunia! NO!"

The tunnel suddenly shook with a massive voice that seemed to come from the very rock surrounding us. "YOU DARE THREATEN MY PEOPLE, YOU INSIGNIFICANT WORM?" The hateful tones set the cave shaking and both of us bouncing forward. The rubies on the walls seemed to burst with light, but I was sure it was a trick of the massive headache I'd acquired.

"DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU WERE OFF THE HOOK, YOU STUPID IDIOT?" I SHOULD HAVE HAD YOU DEAD WHEN THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY CAME. NOW YOU AND THE GIRL WILL SUFFER!"

"What do you want from us?" I screamed back, "What could be worth all this? be worth the death of your people?"

"It is your civilization that will crumble, hero boy. Leave my servant be, and prepare yourself for death." The voice was fading now, and so too, was the shimmer in the veins of ruby on the walls. I wondered now if there was a connection. Trisyrt's eyes had looked just like it when Darunia had been in possession of his body.

I raced to one of them. "In the darkness, bring the light." I quoted my former teacher and sent a blast of light into a line of the gems, sending shards of ruby scattering across the floor. I had just enough time to hear Trisyrt mutter something before the world disappeared.

"You fool."

(Zelda)

Pain.

Pain had absorbed everything, crushing my will under its heavy, burdensome toll. Not a day went by that the thin Goron didn't find some new means of hurt for me to suffer. All because I withheld information about Link. Somehow they knew I loved him, so they threatened him, which was their only effective torture. I didn't see how divulging information would help him, so I remained silent.

I hadn't spoken a word in what was now three weeks of captivity. What had happened to Link? I'd expected to be here a day or two at most, but onward the number of days climbed, till I began to wonder if he had given up on me, and if I should speak freely to save myself from suffering.

No. That couldn't be right. Link would never abandon me. I had lost my hair, hacked off and used to strangle me to near asphyxiation. I had lost weight from starvation. I had lost my smooth skin, which was now layered in scars. But I hadn't lost my determination.

Link would never abandon me.

...Would he?

(Trisyrt)

"You Fool."

I turned away in disgust as Hero disappeared in a flash of light, leaving nothing but scattered shards of broken gems. Having him gone would save me a lot of trouble, however. Now I wouldn't have to walk with him at my heels all the way. It wouldn't change much else. I still had to get to Darunia's headquarters in Ruby City for the next move in the game.

On foot, it took some time to make it there, and when I finally did, I was drained. As drained as Hero must be by now. "Not that that would matter to him at the moment," I said to myself with a chuckle. Hero had bigger concerns now.

The Goron cities always take my breath away, no matter how many times I see them. Darunia's home city was made out of the gem he sprang from, and though I never told him, I always preferred the cool walls of Sapphire to the blinding scarlet that always surrounds me here.

With a loud fluttering, I was surrounded by Bellen-Der. How I loathed the creatures. They'd once been a beautiful, intelligent race, living deep under the earth peacefully. But Darunia had twisted them into grotesque slaves over the years.

Being in his service was getting old. Darunia had promised Rost, Griman and I rulership over Kakariko, and all the things we and our people could want. Now my friends were dead and we were no more in possession of what Darunia had promised us than ever.

Hero was his problem now, and I was about to become Darunia's. It was time to deal with my would-be benefactor.

It was time to kill Darunia.

Chapter LXI: Battle Gray

(Mako)

As we left the already rotting "mountain", I could feel the tree weeping beneath me. It had been through too much. I began to cry unashamedly with it. It was dying, something of vast sorrow to my people.

Faceless spoke up, saying nothing of my tears. "The Marauders are following us. I am heading back to our village. Let's hope our friend makes it." I looked back, but for a moment all I could see was a wet blur. After wiping a ragged tunic sleeve across my face, I saw them. The wind ruffled their tattered skin as they gathered together from the scattering they'd received. A loud horn pierced the air, and I realized then we were in for trouble.

When we reached the village, the tree suddenly hit the ground. The branch I was holding onto crumbled, sending me tumbling to the ground, to land amid a pile of dirt and dry roots. Faceless hopped beside me nimbly as the rest of the tree turned to ashen dust.

Battles make me sick.

A massive group of faceless men, women, and even children charged from the whitewashed walls of the town, and I with them. I'd long ago lost my staff, but their leader, a tall, powerfully built man with blond hair, had given me a spear. The Marauders had been massing for some time now, and upon hearing Faceless's report (whose name turned out to be Mareri), they'd decided to make a decisive blow.

As it turned out, the faceless are a warrior people. Only the infants, incapacitated, and disgraced stay behind. The disgraced are those whose courage failed them in battle, and so they are expected to care for the rest that can't go.

My heart was beating way too fast. I was sure I could almost hear it. My stomach churned as we struck a group of Marauders on the far side of a hilltop. Two titanic waves crashed into each, and the battle began to flood towards me.

I dropped to my knees in the grass, gasping, as violence overtook everything. This wasn't an elegant swordfight, or a desperate struggle of wills against an evil man.

It was slaughter.

I caught a glimpse of Mareri. She held an odd, double-bladed sword with no hilt. The middle was simply smoother and protected with blue leather. It slid like water between her palms, striking here, there, moving easily through the flesh of all nearby enemies.

Suddenly a Marauder was about to bring an ax down on me. A faceless warrior wearing no shirt, bare chest wet with blood, struck down on him. The warrior jerked his head towards me and rubbed his palms together, which I later realized was a show of contempt.

I was disgraced.

Neither side seemed capable of gaining an advantage. The Marauders were fewer but seemed to require death to be stopped.

I couldn't seem to find the strength to rise. I wanted to be away from here. Back in the forest, back where I belonged, but it all seemed impossibly far away now.

While everyone else fought each other, I fought with myself, struggling to beat out the fear that kept me on my knees. I would never forget the sights, sounds, smells around me. The frenzied bloodlust in a cute little girl's eyes, the grunting of a faceless man as he lay dying. The smell of the blood that soaked the fields.

Worst of all was the Marauder's special talent. They could remove their loose skin and take control of the faceless ones' dead. Something had to be done. I was a sage. People were supposed to be able to count on me. People needed me. I pushed all fear aside. What did one death matter?

This needed to end. Battles make me sick.

Spear held high over my head, I charged into battle.

Chapter LXII: Tools

(Medli)

I floundered onto the broken mast, lungs heaving. I looked all around. The gray sky still rumbled angrily. The Octos still floated in a line, waiting hungrily for the first person to drift their way.

They formed a wall that I realized was growing far too fast. With so many feathers wet or gone, I wasn't at all sure I could fly. I began fumbling with the knot at my waist. I was the only one left attached. All the others had reflexively cut theirs as we went down. It wouldn't give. I knew almost nothing about knots.

I couldn't hold back a scream as a tentacle lashed out and gripped the wooden spar tightly. My little raft was yanked into the air with dizzying speed. I could hear Laruto fighting elsewhere, and there were strange noises coming from the water, but no one was nearby. No one could help. I was going to die alone, I knew, as the Octo shoved the mast, with me attached, straight into its mouth.

(Shiek)

_-"Use the tools you have been afforded."-_

The voice flooded my mind as I treaded water, and suddenly I knew what I had to do. The only real flaw was that it depended entirely on Laruto's strength. I knew she was a powerful being, but this time she might be in over her head.

But I couldn't think about that. I had only to do what I could, and hope everything came together. I pulled out the Wind Waker and stabbed forward with it experimentally. I was blasted backward, across the waves. My father had told me the Waker was a conductor's baton, but for some reason I'd never been able to use it that way. Nor had Medli.

I flew through the air like a firework toward the first pirate, the wind beneath and behind me creating a tunnel of air. The pirate still had a bit of rope dangling from his waist and I grabbed onto it and pulled him with me, going slower than before. The man screamed at first, but seemed to realize it was me.

The insanity of what I was doing struck me with the second man's grunt of surprise, and I had to surface for longer than usual so I could laugh. I was using a wind wand to swim through the water and gather up pirates to protect them from giant sea monsters, while a fish-girl took them out. I kept right on laughing as I worked, and soon had everyone on a couple of makeshift rafts. Nobody had seen Medli or Cufell, and they were especially worried over Zelda.

A scream cut the thick, dark air, and I dove for the water as a horrific sight made me gasp. Medli had been eaten.

(Laruto)

I ran straight across the head of an Octo, back flipped, and fired orbs as I fell. The creature's back was covered with weak spots. These were horribly flawed monsters. Their odd, pus covered openings made perfect targets. I'd already taken down two others, and this one would soon fall. I hit the water and slid easily into my world, dodging tentacles, spinning this way and that.

I jumped out into the air, ready to end it, but a tentacle was waiting for me! Backhanded, I went flying twenty feet and landed with a powerful crash back into the water. It almost seemed like something was guiding the Octos, something was helping them and pushing them.

Ganondorf hadn't just put the Octos into place. He was leading them.

I surged forward and tried to strike again but was caught in the suckered grasp of one of the Octo's many appendages. As I struggled, my hatred for Ganondorf seared, breaking down all my barriers. As Ganon's darkness flooded through the being that held me, I reached deep, pulling out all my anguish, loathing, sorrow, and horror.

"This is my darkness, Ganondorf!" I cried out. A blast wave of energy burst from within. "Do you fear it?" The Octo and several around me disintegrated. I saw and felt bruised flesh around my stomach, but ignored it as I went spinning into the waves.

The water closed over me. I could hear it's roar, smell the ocean, see the rain that the sky finally relinquished. The rain... it seemed to patter against the sky, striking the waves with increasing tempo. I forced myself to swim after another Octo. The battle wasn't quite over yet.

Something white moved in the depths, and I gasped with horror.

I was soon rising up, brought back into the world of air by an Octo. The whole long line of them was filled as if it had never been damaged at all.


	21. Part 21

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old

Chapter LXIII: Escape

(Link)

After an explosion of light that pressed itself against my eyes, the world seemed to dissolve before me, colors running together and blurring. The ruby on the wall seemed to be getting closer and closer. Everything ran like this for a few minutes, and then my sight began to recollect itself. I tried to move several times, and found myself incapable. I seemed to be in a different room. I could see a gray pillar, set against a wall filled with more thick veins of Ruby in the walls. I also saw what looked like a ruby sword sticking out somewhere over there.

And still I couldn't move. I soon realized I also couldn't smell, feel, hear...or breathe. Panic hammered my brain for a moment, but soon died out. I wasn't dying.

What had happened to me? Why was I stuck like this?

More importantly, how was I going to get myself out of it?

(Zelda)

Hopeful dreams are the only thing that kept me going. At night, recovering from a flood of pain, I would see vivid pictures of possible futures. Link smiled and picked me up, walking over the threshold of a small house on a beautiful island. Link grinning as we laid in the grass of that same island, light breezes ruffling our hair, a full moon smiling back down on us. Children running everywhere, climbing on Link, stealing food, and one asking me to kiss a scrape.

But then other, darker nightmares would enter in. Me locked in battle with a giant, blue-skinned Moblin. Link, broken on the ground, getting stabbed through the heart. Link, a Rito I didn't recognize, a much older Tetra and I, standing in the court of a strange castle, where a spindly-legged creature with spinning eyes sat on a throne, tilting it's head.

That one seemed to stick. Green stone walls patterned with ivy in deeper shades of the same color stood around us. But the room wasn't that big. It was a small windowless box, containing the six of us, and...it. I swallowed distastefully as I took in the being that sat on the ornate gold throne, glinting dully in the lamplight.

An oval shaped head. A long, segmented neck. Eyes the color of the walls, but spinning, always spinning, so fast they made spiral patterns. Four long black limbs, twisting seemingly of their own accord. A golden carapace that almost gleamed like the throne behind it. A wide mouth, trapped in an evil grin.

The hairless insect seemed to be waiting for something. ...But what?

I looked over at my companions for the first time. Link was standing right next to me. He wore a simple brown tunic and carried a single sword, which, I noted with interest, was neither the Master nor the Left, as he called the sword he'd taken from Ganondorf. His familiar blue hat remained perched atop his mop of blond hair. He looked back and tossed me a skewed grin, twisting one of the long white scars on his face. He was unworried. Confidant. That reassured me, but only for a moment.

_That means nothing. He's always confidant, _I thought to myself. He looked much older. A little taller and less skinny, and I realized I was older as well. I guessed we were in our late twenties.

Tetra was only recognizable because she looked so much like me. Her blond hair was cropped up, and she wore the loose garb of a pirate. The same clothes I was wearing. Looking at her reminded me of my own hair. Back to almost waist length. The Rito was obviously a postman. He wore a bag at his shoulder and kept shifting from foot to foot. Nervous?

The insect man seemed to be leaning over in his seat, almost hungrily. Everyone kept glancing at me. Was I meant to speak?

Link peeked back at me, then stepped forward and began to speak.

"King of Iim. We have come from a faraway ocean seeking land for our people to resettle. In the wake of Ganondorf's defeat at my hand, we humbly ask for your aid."

For some time, the king did not speak. Then the words came rattling from his body. A hoarse rasp like the voice of a dying man. "We...will not...help you."

Link, a poor diplomat, spoke his next words colored with anger. "Then we will be on our way," and without another word, the four of us turned and began to leave. I glanced back for a lingering moment, and felt a dull thread of horror clench my stomach as the insect king began to speak again.

"You...cannot... leave, my... pets."

In a blur of movement Link had drawn his sword and lunged at the creature. Vines of ivy lurched from the wall and wrapped around him. I reached for the sword at my waist and instead found a bow. _I can make that fly, _I thought, pulling an arrow from the quiver that had gone unnoticed on my back, the way only years of habit can make something do. I leapt back and fired an arrow point blank, just as Tetra drew a sword and the Rito pulled something from his bag.

In seconds, Link was stuck to the wall, limbs swinging wildly, Tetra fought surprisingly well, better than even I could wield a sword, but she was quickly swept up by the vines as well. My arrow was caught in one of the insect's spidery palms. The Rito drew out a shining silver orb. The surface danced in the torchlight.

The Rito spoke with a stutter of fear but held his ground even so with admirable bravery. "I-I ho-hold in my hand the Terrasina Sphere. R-release my friends at once or I-I will destroy you, and everyone within ten miles."

While the King of Iim concentrated on the orb, I drew another arrow, and quietly took aim. My arrow missed, going wide, but to my shock, an arrow was suddenly piercing his neck. Link dashed up, urging the Rito to put the Sphere away. "We mustn't use it, Quill." As Tetra was freed and we made for the door, the dying King spoke again.

"GEYT THYRP LILIL!"

The double doors that were the only exit burst open, and a flood of insect people stormed in. We were soon surrounded by spinning eyes, fluttering limbs.

I moved my bow the way I'd taught myself, launching arrows that stuck in limbs, necks, and the ivy. One insect man advanced on me and I fired an arrow that bounced off his bronze colored shell. The next struck his eye and sent a cloud of smoke in the air.

Link was a moving power, bringing down three, four, five, six enemies in a minute. Quill had pulled out a boomerang and begun launching it at multiple targets at once. It crossed paths with Link's boomerang, which followed his sword around, slamming an enemy from behind and drawing it towards his deadly blade.

But the battle was taking the toll it was bound to. I was covered in bruises from being grabbed by absurdly powerful limbs. Tetra's hair had fallen over her face, cloaking one eye, the other glaring out at undiscerning enemies. And Link was covered in wounds.

Soon our adversaries began to carry weapons. Whips that seemed to be made of the wall-ivy, and strange, clockwork weapons. After a handle and a bit of machinery, a long dull blade with appropriately sharp teeth would spin, slicing through any barrier. Grinding noises filled the air as sword met miniature blade, and soon blood began to litter the floor. Our blood.

Link fought his way to me and looked at me with infinite sadness in his blue eyes. "You must escape. I give you life."

"No. I won't leave you. We'll help Tetra and Quill escape, and you and I will die together if we must." Even in this strange future, my love for Link was unchanged. Strong. I couldn't see him hurt.

He shook his head. Somehow the outside world had slowed. I knew Link was doing it, but also that he couldn't hold it up for long. "You must go. If not for us, do it for our son. Escape." He smiled, kissed me, and suddenly time swung into full motion again.

But Link was gone.

Lost in the crowd.

The four of us kept fighting. There was no other way, but Link was always there to protect us. And soon, wounds began to whisper of the Hero of Time's coming doom.

Out of the darkness that had descended over me, I heard a scream. Tetra had seen Link fall to his knees. But it didn't matter. Our enemies were leaving. I spun full circle, gazing through the crowd for a glimpse of him. There! Shoving my way through, I landed on my knees beside Link. He'd fallen backward. His body was covered in whip lacerations and chainsaw cuts. I felt for a pulse...

The Hero of Time was dead.

I came awake screaming.

I knew what I had to do. It was time for me to escape.

Chapter LXIV: Strange Times

(Fado)

Pain and sorrow fought to rule over me as Holly and I searched for Mako. It didn't take long. With my new form of vision, I could see that our lost friend was nowhere on the ship. But I couldn't give up. Couldn't face going on without him. I didn't know what I'd do if we never found him. Holly was a comforting balm in these dark times. She'd changed. Even as Holly shared my agony, she had gained a spark about her. The very spark I felt as though I'd lost.

Laughter, happiness, it all seemed so far away now. As far as I was from my dear home. From the shelter of the Great Deku Tree, and the ease of living in a world where suffering was not a normal occurrence.

We were searching an isolated room far removed from the rest of the cabins. I couldn't see much. Life had not touched this room for some time. Holly glowed a brilliant violet, but other than that, there was nothing. I was turning to leave, when I saw a flash of blue. I concentrated, and saw a book. I pointed, and began to walk towards it.

As it turned out, the book was actually in a secret compartment behind a chest of drawers, which was blocked off by a trunk. As Holly opened the book and began to read, normally I would have said we were wasting time, but I'd seen the cover of the book. It had to have answers. The title read CAPTAIN'S LOG.

(Mako)

I wasn't sick anymore.

The battle was over. I'd found the will to fight from somewhere deep inside and gone to it savagely. Thoughts of what I'd done hung over me, weights ready to crash down. What was this quest doing to us? Kokiri are creatures of peace! The senseless mauling had stopped when I'd caught both leaders. Eventually my shouting cut through the frenzied bloodlust and people stopped to look up the hill at me.

Maybe I was going to be sick after all. These two peoples were obviously longtime enemies. What could I say to make them stop fighting? I held them both beneath a sword. One appropriated from each. "What are you doing, Maker? Release me, so that are enemies may be destroyed. Kill Karbuzal, and I will forgive you the evil you've done today." I ignored him. The Faceless Chief's words meant nothing. Except...

"Marauders! I am your chief now!" I cried out, plunging the sword deep into Karbuzal's stomach and twisting it through to the heart.

"All hail our new chief!" one Marauder shouted. Cries swept over the crowded press of warriors. I all but collapsed sobbing with relief. It was over. I was wrong. One death did matter. It had made all the difference.

"One of them cannot lead us!" An old Marauder shouted.

"No, look closely! He is not like them, but like both our peoples." The Marauder that had first cried out to me replied.

I cried out that there would be no more fighting. Shaking hands with the Faceless Chief, I gasped in shock when pain flowed from it. When I withdrew, I realized I'd been stabbed.

"Do you know why our world has no sun in sight, Maker? Legends say the evil of our people made it hide its face."

Chapter LXV: Torn

(Laruto)

I felt broken. Defeated. I was already locked in battle with Octo I had risen from the sea on. But for what? Were my friends even alive anymore? Did I have any hope of surviving this?

As weariness pressed in on my sore muscles and tired eyes, I fought on. There was nothing else to do. Perhaps if I could get past it, I could go on alone, and complete my quest.

As I flitted into the water and swam underneath a net of tentacles, a sudden, massive, blast pushed me deeper into the water. When I stopped reeling, I looked up to see that the Octo above me, and all the others, were gone.

I surfaced and saw the gray, rainy world lit by thin strands of golden light that spread across the sky in arches. I followed them down to a tiny point almost too far away to see. Shimmering gold, with her hair lit up and floating behind her stood what appeared to be a queen.

I looked closer and gasped.

Zelda!

After a moment she became the young pirate I'd known before and slipped into the waves. As tired as I was, I didn't have much time before I could swim no longer. I would be fine, but what if Zelda needed my help?

A cry broke the sad, twisted air, and I turned to see Medli struggling. Now I didn't know where to go. Surely Zelda would be okay? Without a second thought I was helping Medli up, and we were limping towards the Headstone Isle.

At last, I crashed into the sands of the island I strived so long for. I'd lost my people, my home, and in many ways, my self. Broken dreams of the future I almost had had haunted me every day. I'd been hunted, lost, broken, hated, and even raised an army. I'd had so many fight, so much pain.

But none of that mattered then, as I collapsed onto the sand with Medli beside me and lost the world before my eyes were fully closed.


	22. Part 22

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old

Chapter LXVI: The Breakout

(Link)

I could feel my mind slipping into shreds. How long had I been stuck like this? Nothing but the sight before me and my own thoughts. An hour? A day? Weeks, months, years?

I tried hundreds of things, but with no abilities other than thought, I got nowhere fast.

Every event of my entire life slid before me. The joyous, peaceful life I'd led on Roc's Island for fifteen years. Now I was well into my sixteenth year, or at least I had been when I'd been frozen here. The battles, laughs, and pains of my quest. My love. My Zelda. She was a constant thought, weaving in between the growing madness. As weird noises clattered and buzzed through my head, and a million unrecognizable things began to take the place of the only thing I could see, Zelda anchored me to sanity.

Worry of her kept me from thinking about my failures, my foolishness. Was she okay? Would I see her again?

Would I ever be free?

(Zelda)

I groaned in dread when my food was brought in. Not because of hunger, but because of my plan. I was often left to starve for days, then brought a huge meal so that I would eat myself sick. I'd long ago learned that cutting back on the massive portions was wise. But I ignored that today. I shoveled down everything before me, the heavy creams, the thick bread, the unfamiliar meat, and a huge cake. Letting myself go until I could feel my clothes tightening. When Link and I got out of this, I would have to hire a Goron cook. For rock-eaters, they were good.

By the time I was done, I already felt sick, but I called out for more. Yowling for more food until a short Goron guard with a massive axe strapped to his back and three small maces on a belt appeared. "Why don't you shut up? What is it?"

"I'm hungry," I responded. I need more food.

"But you already ate more food than I've seen you eat since you got here. Hasn't your stomach shrunken from lack? Gisirah said Hylians were very difficult to starve."

"Indeed we are, but your master was misinformed. We Hylians need only eat once or twice a month. We eat a large amount, then store it up. I need to finish my meal, or I might pass away in a few weeks. We can only eat at certain times. Please help me sir," I said, batting my eyelashes. "I have already shrunken so much. I used to be a mighty, Goron-sized warrior."

My pale skin, once almost brown, and slender limbs seemed to move his pity. Within minutes, I was wolfing down another decidedly less delicious meal, and struggling not to vomit. But I couldn't hold it back for long. By the time I finished I threw up all over the cell wall. Forget about hiring a Goron cook.

The guard returned, and I smiled weakly. "I think I'm sick. I've been stuck in this cell for so long, I'm in desperate need of fresh air to replenish my lung filters.

"As long as you know escape will be hopeless. I'm sure you recognize that in your state you could never overcome me."

I nodded meekly and was soon out in a small yard before the jail. High above, I could see the massive torches, and now noticed a round cavern mouth between two of them. I took a deep breath. The air was nothing like the fresh, salty air I had grown up with, but it was far better than my dank and now smelly prison. I also noted an odd whistling and clanking coming from a few buildings away.

I took several noticeable glances at the maces on the Goron's belt, and after making some small talk, I inquired, "I wonder, sir-No. It is too much to ask."

"Let me judge that. What is it?"

"Well...no. Well, could I hold your mace, sir? No doubt a towering, impressive Goron such as yourself has no trouble bearing its weight, but it is much like the mace I used to wield, and I wonder if I could just wrap my fingers around it for a moment. I couldn't possibly harm anyone, being so slender and weak."

"Why didn't you ask sooner? I would be glad to grant a request of so little consequence." Then added confidentially, "I always thought your torture rather unfair."

That made what I was about to do harder, but he would surely recover. As soon as the mace was in hands, I gave it a powerful swing to his armored head, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Oh, no, I'm ever so helpless," I said, swinging the mace up to rest on my shoulder. "Whatever shall I do with this big, heavy mace? _Wah hah ha ha HA!"_

(Trisyrt)

When Darunia realized what I was doing, he raged constantly. Screaming about what a doomed fool I was. Eventually I figured out how to shut him up. The sliver of ruby that had been imbedded into my left arm over a few months ago.

Going in by the front door would be more than a little obvious. I heard a whistle and quickened my pace. I had a train to catch. A supply train carried Gorons, gems, and goods between the three cities, always stopping for inspection by Darunia, Link, or Dodongo.

I was exhausted by the days events, but I'd always been the most energetic of the three of us. Three of us. The hole left open by Griman and Rost's deaths still hurt. What fools we'd been to follow that Goron!

Darunia no doubt had a warning out for me, as well as Princess, who I imagined by now had connived or fought her way out of prison. She would be useful if she so, but I wasn't going to waste time freeing her. That would mean she wasn't skilled enough to be any help.

I'd spent the last several days preparing in hiding, and now I was ready. I had two choices in getting aboard the train. I could sneak on and hide, or I could force my way and take control of the engine.

I didn't feel like hiding anymore.

It was an almost pathetic matter to get past the guards. I didn't even bother to fight them. Just ran by. They rolled after me, but I leapt onto the caboose of the already moving train and was soon out of reach.

In a matter of moments a bulky engineer was quivering like a child before the sharp, harshly glinting edge of my sword. Two other crew members and a trio of gaping upper-classers on a tour watched in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Keep things moving as they were," I ordered calmly. "I'll let you know when to change course."

A pattering on the roof suddenly cut in with the clattering of wheels against rails. One of the walls heaved inward as if the train were taking a breath, and mace spikes dug through the wall. Gorons weren't much good with metal.

Zelda.

Perfect.

The grinding of metal on metal screamed as Zelda tore at the siding. She leapt in through a gaping hole and swung her mace at my head without saying a word. I hopped back and brought up my sword in defense.

Wind pushed at my face as Zelda swung heavily, leaning into her attackss and throwing her full body weight into them, which wasn't much, but she was obviously stronger than she looked.

Too bad she had no mace skills whatsoever.

Matching blades with her, I knew she was could outfight me with her weapon of choice available, but as it was I could beat her in less than a minute.

But that wouldn't quite suit my plans.

I let the battle drag on, and suddenly, a massive fist nearly knocked my head off. The Goron engineer had joined the fight! I dodged back from a follow-up blow and barely managed to parry a strike from Zelda.

_Now this might be a little more trouble. _

I raced over to the far edge of the car, where the trio of thin, flashily dressed Gorons were cowering in fear. I snapped off a sapphire from the neck of one and concentrated. The onrushing engineer was knocked backward against the coal door of the train by a blast of icy wind. I concentrated harder and sent solid needles of glinting ice at Zelda, purposefully slow enough for her to dodge if she had the reflexes of a dead Cave Cucco.

The smell of ice began to fill the room as I back-flipped away. Had to make this look good. She was there, mace ready to strike. I let her knock the sword from my hand and pretended to be too tired to use my sapphire. It was tempting to blast her with ice. I didn't need her _that_ badly. All three gems came from the mines outside the cites. Each had a special power. Ruby, fire. Sapphire, my favorite, ice. I'd never seen emerald used, so I wasn't sure about it.

Zelda had swept up my sword and now I knew my life was in her hands. I had to choke back a laugh. It was really working!

Emotion burned in her eyes as she spoke. "Where is Link? What have you done with him? Tell me before I kill you!"

"...Link? Is that your friend? I can take you to him. I'm on my way to Darunia's inner sanctum." _Strange that he shares a name with a Goron Lord. _"Do not fear for my motives. Darunia has betrayed my people, and must be stopped." Completely true. I had no trouble letting her gaze bore into my eyes.

She nodded, shrugged, and dropped the sword by my feet. I swept it up. Now all there was to do was wait. The train would deliver us in time. By now we were outside the city. Wind was blasting through the hole in wall. Only a deep darkness could be seen outside the windows.

That's all there was outside the circles of warmth where sane Gorons lived. Vast emptiness.

A screech and a loud shriek made me jump. Zelda jerked at the double assault of noise too.

As long, steel claws began to tear into the ceiling of the train, I knew. Deadly trouble was here.

I cursed loudly. "Keese!"

"What is this?" Zelda cried. "What's going on?"

"The worst thing that could have happened."

"What's that?"

"Mutated monsters. Insane Gorons. Gem-Crazies. Pray to whatever gods you worship, because we're about to die."

Chapter LXVII: The Quest For Self

_Captain's Log, First Entry._

(Asriel Krytos)

It has been just one year since the rains came, and the ocean consumed. I can remember the events like they happened yesterday, because they unraveled my life like a cat playing with a ball of yarn.

When the war came, I seized all opportunities to prosper. The head of a band of thieves has to be ever on the lookout where such things are concerned. It wasn't long before great masses of wealth and slaves were mine. We had collected the riches from the goron, zora, and gerrudo tribes. The Goron and zora animals make excellent, able slaves. The beautiful, spirited gerrudo women make excellent wives.

Or so I thought. When I saw the flooding begin, I decided to put my slaves to work building a boat on Lake Hylia. We were pirates, after all, and it would keep our treasure safe, even in a landlocked country such as this. Little did I know how much I would benefit from such a whim!

The rest, as they say, is history. Hyrule is long gone and the people are scattered. They would be easy to plunder were it not for the problems we encountered with the women.

Gerrudo are just regular people like any of us, but upon entering their order of 'honorable thievery", they are sealed with a magic oath. They warned us of their custom that only one man is to be born among them every century, but we ignored their superstitious rubbish.

The gerrudo tried to resist marrying to us, but when we threatened other's lives, they had little choice.

But their dire warnings proved true and disaster struck. Many of the woman became pregnant at the same time. The rest soon followed. When the first woman gave birth to a son, the rest of the women miscarried and their husbands died instantly.

Leaving me aboard a ship full of warriors, as I was the husband to the woman who gave birth. In weakness after giving birth, I managed to shove them all overboard.

Now I'm all alone on a pirate ship too large for one man to control. I have been lost and drifting the sea ever since. Food runs low, and I can no longer bear the sight of my son. I tried to throw him overboard with the rest, but something stayed my hand.

Now I keep him deep below decks and only visit him to provide him with sustenance. He frightens me to the depths of my soul. Born with green skin, red hair, and void black eyes, his origins are without doubt. At only a month old, he can already speak. Just one word, however, which he repeats over and over.

_"Ganon."_

(Mako)

The shock was bigger than the pain. What could I do? My life seemed to be trickling away in a stream that would soon merge with a river, carrying me out into an ocean of death. Nobody else seemed quite sure what to do with themselves.

But no. I'd misjudged. The man had stabbed the wrong rib! Right instead of left. I would be fine if I didn't bleed to death.

"You missed." I said to the chief, sweeping his head off with the sword still wet with Karbuzal's blood.

I staggered to the ground, fumbling to make a bandage. A crowd of bizarre people surrounded me, and as my consciousness faded I realized I was everyone's chief.

Sunlight streamed into a small room as my eyes slowly blinked open. A girl with red-gold hair and beautiful green eyes was staring down at me with an eager, gleeful smile animating her face. I smiled back dreamily and almost fell back asleep when recognition jarred me into sitting up. "Mareri! Your face! But...how?"

"Your leadership has brought back together our evil, warring peoples. You have ended a battle that reaches as far as our history, though it is obvious we are of the same race. We owe you a great debt."

"Perfect," I responded. "I want nothing more than to go home." I knew the enormous bird we'd seen hatch would be able to take me straight to the forest, but I needed to rejoin my friends. A different plan suddenly presented itself.

"Are any of your people into painting?"

Chapter LXVIII: Sand

(Laruto)

Grit was the first thing I felt. Pressing my face, sticking to my clothes, grinding in my mouth. I awoke and almost screamed from the pain of sleeping the wrong way for far too long. Bones popped, my jaw ached, and my limbs were as sore as if I hadn't slept.

"Ugh."

Medli was still asleep beside me. As I sat up, I looked around. Zelda, Shiek and Cufell were sleeping nearby. Some of the pirates were too, but most were huddled close to a small fire that crackled and smoked in the rain I belatedly noticed was falling around me. They looked as pathetic as I felt.

Ganondorf's days were numbered.

Right.

I sighed, the pressure of so many lives that weighed on mine bringing me down to the sand. Now was the time to sneak off alone. The pirates were used to following orders, and badly run through. They wouldn't protest if I told them to stay here.

Checking the harp that had gone unnoticed for so long at my back, I made for the cave entrance. Suddenly a hand shot out from nowhere and grabbed my ankle.

(Medli)

"Where do you think you're going? Do you really think we wouldn't just follow you? Sit down, eat something, discuss a plan of action, and we'll get you into that temple," I commanded, trying my best to sound imposing while on my belly grabbing someone's foot.

"No. I'm too close. I can't rest now. Come with me or don't, but alone or not, I'm leaving _now._" Laruto shook her head sadly and shook free of my grasp.

I stood. No fear. That surprised me. I had no worry about what I might encounter inside the temple.

"Are you sure you want to come, Medli? There might be a lot of trouble waiting."

"I've seen true despair, and I've washed my hands of it. I am fearless now. I am a sage, and will stand with you to the end."

She nodded and turned towards the small black mouth waiting to swallow us, and stopped suddenly, whispering, "Make wisdom yours."

"What?"

"We have to bring Zelda. Wake her."

Zelda came awake quickly, eyes wide. She gave Laruto a strange look that made me feel I'd missed something while Laruto explained, but she seemed glad to be included. When the three of us got to the entrance one of the pirates suddenly exclaimed "'Ey Miss Zelda! Where're you goin'?"

Several minutes later, I was standing behind Laruto as she prepared to enter through. A strange stone block shaped like a head rested nearby. She'd pressed her hands straight into the rock and made it. With no explanation why. Zelda, Shiek and Cufell stood behind me. The pirate crew watched from the beach.

There were no preparations we could make except prayer. This was it.

Taking a deep, calming, breath, I stepped inside.


	23. Part 23fin

Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old

I made an error in the last chapter. Trisyrt used Zelda's name without learning it. Oh, and Knoll survived the battle with Gepqa, not Cufell Fixed, but sorry to anyone that got confused. Heh, who am I kidding? All three of you that read it probably didn't notice. And if anyone's been reading this who doesn't have an account, anonymous reviews have been turned on. ... ' ... '

Chapter LXIX: Nightmare

(Trisyrt)

Hideously long claws shredded through the metal like paper. The princess called Zelda and I stood ready, but our chances didn't look good. Could it be that Darunia had been anticipating my next move all along? No. Impossible.

Gem-Crazed Gorons, or jrongtels as they were called in the Goron tongue, were twisted creatures, once normal Gorons until the mines had been opened. Exposed to the raw power of the strange rubies, sapphires and emeralds of our world, they'd changed. Not much was known about them. They worked to mysterious ends, killing hear and there with seemingly random patterns. The reports were all different. Ten feet tall. Able to shoot fire from their eyes. Moving in blurry packs with blinding speed.

The first one finally broke through the ceiling and lunged with a high pitched squeal. Its body was thin and curved, unlike most rotund Gorons. A clump of spikes grew from the head, and went down the neck to end at the lower back. Wicked foot-long claws tore at the air. Its eyes were the same color Griman's had always become when controlled up by Darunia, but this being was manipulated only by madness.

My sword fit easily in my grasp, training a help to combat a spike of fear. The Goron tourists were curled into balls in the corner, and one of the engineers remained where I'd dropped him. The other watched open-mouthed. I held up my sword and the Goron's claws caught, scratching my nose as they came just short of shredding my face.

I shoved and knocked him off balance. As his other claw came up to strike I was forced to duck, dodging one arm while I parried another. "Get some jewels from the Upper-Classers!" I called out to Zelda. I had a plan. A stupid plan, but anything was better than getting shredded apart and eaten, as jrongtels were reported to do to their defeated prey.

I could see Zelda running for the trio of cowardly aristocrats, but a pair of jrongtels jumped in her path before she could reach them, screaming like demonic crows. This couldn't last. I deflected another blow from my opponent and was about to risk coming to the girl's aid when my jrongtel fell, a heavy blow to the knees toppling it. An inferno of blazing heat suddenly erupted from the creature's mouth, nearly frying me in its path.

I swung a blow that should have removed the monster's head, but was blocked by the spikes on its back. Didn't matter, though. It wouldn't be getting up soon. The Goron who had helped me nodded before turning to help his coworker.

Steel clashed and rang through the battered train car as more and more jrongtels began to leap through the openings. Our limbs began to tire in the ceaseless flow. We were soon covered in slash marks, our own blood joining and mingling with the blood of our enemies.

Suddenly Zelda tossed me a three rubies and an emerald. I tossed one of the rubies back and went to work on my plan. My untested, dangerous and potentially lethal plan. But we weren't buried in options.

It had to work.

(Zelda)

My hand closed around the simple, rounded shape of the ruby and I held it up, trying to use it the way Trisyrt had. Focusing my will on the tiny sphere, I felt a pulse of energy wobble me, a sudden drain, and then burning fire swept over a blue-eyed Goron. More fire rage. More burning, mingling with bone-biting frost as I battled the strange, mutated Gorons. As mace and muscle did their work, I began to burn myself, with fatigue. Trisyrt had dropped from the fight, fiddling with the ruby and emerald I'd given him, and the sapphire he already had.

My foot slipped on a puddle of blood and I found myself face to face with one of the three Gorons who had done nothing but cower. My lip curled in disgust and I turned to defend myself. Seven had gone down, and two more were in the cramped steering room of the strange snake vehicle. Most of the walls were gone, and even on the ground my hair was rustled by sharp blasts of wind. The long cylinder where fires burned kept us going.

My opponent seemed to think I was dead. It was oddly nervous of Trisyrt, and seemed to be debating whether or not to attack him. The strange, icy mannered boy hadn't even noticed my fall! The other mutant had attacked the engineers. They seemed to be winning, but at great cost. I struggled to stand and my buddy's head swung, unleashed an ear-splitting cry and swerved with its body into attack. I screamed in spite of myself and raised my weapon...and nearly dropped it on my face. I barely managed to swing it aside as it swung heavily to the side of my head.

I'd been through so much...the weeks of torture...all I needed was sleep. A flash of silver lighting and claws were coming down to end me.

_My life is over._

I closed my eyes and waited. Instead of death, I felt a wash of heat. A strange heaviness had encompassed my left arm. Somehow I found the strength to stand. My head spun dizzily for a moment. Trisyrt's right arm was swathed by sapphire and ruby blocked out sight of the left as well. Emerald covered my left arm, leaving it blunt like a mace with no spikes. But it was a little late. We were alone.

One of the engineers and two of the rich folk were dead. The remaining tourist had disappeared. The remaining engineer was cradling his coworker. The walls of the 'train' were pretty much gone. The blaze within the propelling can was dying. We were slowing. I wanted to know what happened next. After catching my breath and letting the battle rush of fear, pain, and adrenaline die, I was about to ask what we did next when the train was nearly jarred off its railed track.

"Wha-"

"Wormers. _Dracos Narisde_." Trisyrt said before I could finish my sentence. More mutants. Descended from dragons like Volvanga, Valler, and The Gryor. I hope you still have a prayer ready because..."

"...We're about to die." I finished.

"jrongtels!" Trisyrt called out.

I hadn't even had time to ask about the gem encasing my arm. I also didn't have time to inquire into the nature of jrongtels, but I soon found out when more mutated Gorons flowed over the coal storage cart behind us. Trisyrt began picking them off with his arm weapons. I pointed my arm and concentrated the same way I'd done with the ruby. Instead of a beam of electricity or something, carnivorous plants sprouted from the coal and began snapping up Gorons, snarling and chewing.

"Wicked!" Trisyrt suddenly burst with an out of character laugh. "You got 'em." His smile faded when the creatures were all gone, leaving mangled limbs and bones here and there. But not because he mourned their passing, or even because the large, sturdy purple plants turned on us.

His smile faded because the train was jarred again, knocking it off the track and sending us into the deep darkness beyond.

Chapter LXX: "My True Home"

Captain's Log, eight hundred sixty seventh and last entry 

(Ganondorf II)

My, my. What a busy day.

I only wish my father had more than one life to give, because ending the one he had was quite a pleasure. I was raised in fear and isolation for the last fifteen years. My father was afraid of me, so he had to dominate until I felt fear of him, or at least displayed it to end the beatings. I was raised in isolation. I know the old man picked up another wife and had a daughter, but I've not seen them in a long time. If they're not dead, they soon will be.

What a shame.

This wandering ship is nothing more than the haunt of ghosts. So many have died on this cursed vessel.. They are what truly kept me up so many nights in livid horror. I feel no regret or apprehension in the knowledge that I must leave this place.

I couldn't stay if I wanted to, and I don't! My father figured out how to drive this ship alone, but that knowledge is not written down in this book. I write at its end merely on a whim. I have always enjoyed seeing my thoughts on paper, ever since I taught myself to read and write years ago.

The dead close in around me. I can delay no more! I feel the power of another like me. A being of my talent and power. Greater than me. My true father. There I will find my true home.

(Fado)

I gasped and my head shot up from the book in shock. I gave a laugh of sheer exhilaration. Holly had given up and gone to exploring just a few minutes in, muttering about 'another blood potion', but I'd been hooked. All but the last entry, its yellowed pages encrusted with blood. All the entries between the two that I tore out for future reference told of the ship's captain and his life over fifteen years. Worry over Mako had driven me to search for anything that might help find him.

But nothing in Krytos's journal could really help. The only thing of real interest was when he picked up three passengers. A wife, a Goron merchant, and a Hylian painter. All were killed at some point. By whom and for what was not clear. I shook my head, wondering what I should do next when Holly came dashing into the room.

"Fado... I prepared a potion to bring me to where Mako is now...and it failed. He's gone."

"What do you mean? Dead?

"No...just...not there anymore. I think it's time to go on without him. Again."

"_No!"_ I cried. We will not go through that again. Do you remember what happened when we gave up on Mako before? He came back!"

"We have to be realistic. We're trapped on some sort of ghost ship. He could be anywhere," Holly replied indignantly. "…Anywhere." She said softly, a tear forcing its way out of her eye.

"You're asking me to decide between my quest and my friend," I said softly, the words seemed to be coming from far away, echoing down a long, long tunnel. "I don't want to have to make that kind of choice."

"So what do you want to do?" Holly asked, awkwardly wiping away the tear that had slid down her nose but pretending it wasn't there.

"We put Mako as top priority. Getting to the temple is secondary until…"

The words died on my lips when Mako appeared right between us, weeping unabashedly.

Chapter LXXI: In the Belly of the Beast

(Shiek)

A horrible crunching noise brought me awake instantly. We'd made camp in a small side room off a massive antechamber withan enormous statue that burst from the wall, gathering around the paltry flame of a Moblin's lantern, claimed from a kill Zelda and I had made. Things were not going well. Laruto and Medli had taken to arguing at every turn. Zelda was constantly lamenting the loss of some magic shield. Knoll was acting very oddly, muttering to himself. Everyone was beat up, tired, hungry…

"Zelda?"

…And frightened. The noises were horrible. There was always something around the corner, waiting to end our pathetic dreams of victory like the sputtering fire that they were. How appropriate the fire we gathered around matched so well. This place belonged to the evil king. No doubt about it. The only plus side was that everyone had weapons now. Medli claimed a staff, Laruto a large saber, and I had added the business half of a broken Moblin halberd to my own set of weapons, joining with Sasuke's sword.

"Laruto?"

I sat up in darkness. All blank, nothing to see. I could hear my own heart thudding, and feel the sweat dripping off my nose despite the very cold state of the dungeon. I realized with a small start that my equally sweaty palms already gripped the Wind Waker. I stood and heard a clacking on the floor.

"Medli? Is that you?"

I felt a rush of air and barely had time to react before my head was nearly knocked off. I hit the ground and sent up a blast of wind, closing my eyes and trying to find my attacker.

More clattering! It was coming closer! I let out an exhilarated yell and struck with the Waker, knocking back my enemy. I drew my sword and prepared for the next blow. Before it could come, the room suddenly filled with light and the Stalfos I'd been fighting was shattered. A head dropped onto a pile of bones and I brought the blade in my hand down on it, ending the battle. Zelda grinned at me with an uncharacteristic confidence and leaned on her sword. Laruto burst into the room from another door, followed by Knoll.

"Did you all leave me completely alone and asleep?" I yelled angrily.

"No…we left Medli with you. Where is she?" I looked back at Laruto and saw her eyes widen.

Laruto spoke quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "The Temple has…claimed her."

-Note-

I regret to inform cyberspace in general that this is the last chapter I am going to write of RoO. I seem to be getting no readership, and I feel an original fantasy novel crying out to be written, which I will begin around the time of my nineteenth birthday early next year. But fear not. If I get any reviews or e-mails asking me to revive this story, I probably will. I hate unfinished projects. Also, I have quite a bit posted at (same screen name) that you can read. Below is a summary of the rest of the story. Do not read it if you want more chapters. MAJOR spoilers. Thanks for reading this far!

Link: Zelda and Trisyrt survive the train wreck and go after Darunia, who turns out to be the Spiritual Stone of Fire. After defeating him, Link claims the Megaton Hammer/Goron War-Hammer and Trisyrt becomes a fair leader over Kakariko. When he returns to the surface with Zelda he is attacked by his old friend the King of Hyrule, who offers him a choice. Give up the Master Sword or give up Ganon's sword. He refuses and is forced into battle with the five statues. An easy victory is quickly grasped but Zelda is caught beneath the final statue's hand. Now Zelda's life rests on which sword Link chooses. He throws away the Master. Now Link and Zelda prepare together for an assault on Ganondorf's fortress. After much debate Link shatters the Triforce of Courage with the Hammer(which is then transformed into the Skull Hammer) and orders his girlfriend's pirates to hide the shards with instructions he writes. Worried about the loss of the Triforce and the sword in the battle against Ganon, Zelda suggests they make use of a massive library of magic her mother left behind. And thus does the final battle begin. Link's father and two Ganondorfs make guest appearances. SHOCKER: Link and Zelda both die.

Fado: Mako was crying because Mareri begged him not to leave, worried that her people would return to the way they were. Mako promised to return one day, but couldn't bring himself to stay in that world. Fado, Mako and Holly resume their journey. At the temple Fado begins to create a forest with a bag of seeds that the Great Deku Tree gave him that he has carried at his waist. Ganondorf directly attacks the temple. Mako and Holly resume their Korok state but do battle anyways, forcing him off. He comes back many years later and he and Fado battle. Ganondorf wins, but Fado's inner joy has been revived for a long time, and thus in the end he really wins. Mako and Holly return home. Mako loses his ability to paint worlds and never returns to the other.

Laruto: Medli is missing because Laruto hid her in a cage. She eventually does the same with everyone, and confronts Ganondorf alone. She does not win. Ganondorf makes her a slave. Her friends defeat an evil creature that attacks their cage, and all escape the Temple alive, thinking Laruto is dead. Zelda and Shiek marry. Medli also winds up married, of course. Eventually Laruto is brought back to the Temple and a ghost creature devours her soul. It is not until Link and a descendent of Medli arrive at the temple that she is at last freed. She joins her people at last, justice poured on the destroyer of her people.

Now to explain some perhaps unclear dreams. Laruto's first dream is a premonition of Link's death. The dream where Fado wonders into a town as Mido and where Laruto becomes Ruto and meets Majora's Servant are dreams of the past. They cover part of another story I was planning to write called 'The Triforce Hunters' in which Link leads a small band into the Sacred Realm to claim Ganondorf's Triforce of Power. It took place a few years after Ocarina. Zelda's weird dream where Link dies took place in a future where Link made the right choice, kept the Master Sword, and defeated Ganondorf. Link, Zelda, Tetra and Quill set out for a new home for the Hylians, just the same way WW ends. And Fado's horrible dreams? I think they were all self-explanatory. One thing I might add about them is that they and Mako's unexplored dreams were brought on them because they are sages. If there's anything else I haven't covered, I leave that to your imagination.


End file.
